Twelve cadets from the University of Guam’s ROTC program represented UOG in the Ranger Challenge Competition held in Oregon from Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018 to Thursday,Nov. 1, 2018.

The Ranger Challenge team competed with other Army universities and colleges Oceania wide in a test of military skills and tactics.

Out of the competing schools, the UOG team had placed sixth out of the 10 teams. Cadet Michael Schommer, UOG’s 2018 RC team captain, expresses his pride for his fellow team members who competed in this year’s competition.

“Facing two typhoons that damaged the island our training was hindered,” Schommer said. “However, they continued to work diligently in order to compensate for the lost training days.”

The actual competition was intense, according to Cadets John Sazon and Lucand Camacho. The team had barely enough time to adapt to the cold temperatures.

“It is usually about 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. So, it is really cold especially coming from a tropical island,” Sazon said.

In addition, the team experienced flight delays due to the recent typhoon. “The second typhoon (Yutu) also pushed back our flight by a day, resulting in a late arrival and no acclimation period,” Schommer said.

“The major challenge we had was maintaining a competitive mindset throughout the competition,” Camacho said. “Due to the unfortunate events of typhoon Yutu, we arrived at Camp Rilea [the location of the competition] off schedule with only about two hours or less of sleep before the competition started.”

Once a year, UOG’s ROTC holds competitive tryouts for the RC Team.

According to Schommer, the selection process is rigorous and grueling.

“With prior Air Assault School physical ‘testing’ experience, the Captain made the RC tryouts extremely aggressive,” Schommer said.

Some cadets learned about the Ranger Challenge Competition in their freshman year of college. Sazon and Camacho were both surprised to be chosen.

Sazon said the tryouts are both mentally and physically intense. He said that they look for those with characteristics such as being able to work in a team, leadership skills, and being physically fit.

“You have to be willing to push yourself beyond your limits while maintaining academics,” Camacho said. “It also requires a huge amount of discipline waking up around 0400 to be covered in mud and sweat from 0500 to 0700.”

“They also look at your current GPA and current standing with the cadre,” Sazon said.

From 82 cadets who tried to make the team, only the top 12 remained.

As the competition approached, the team’s mindset remained competitive. “I feltconfident that our team was ready,” said Camacho.

However, the three cadets expressed their personal doubts leading up to the RangerChallenge Competition.

“I would often question myself,” Schommer said. “I would question whether what I was doing was right or wrong for the team.”

Camacho had moments where he thought about withdrawing from the team. “I had personal doubts because of the class hours I was missing to attend the competition,”says Camacho.

Sazon takes comfort in his team.

“There are always doubts,” he said. “but working with such like-minded individuals in the team removes those doubts.”

The RC team was tasked to do several rigorous events. Some tasks that the team had to complete included a six-mile ruck march as a team, a night-to-day land navigation, and an obstacle course to name a few.