Last month the Blue Jay Battalion sent our Ranger Challenge (RC) team to Fort Barfoot, VA to compete in the annual 4th Brigade Ranger Challenge Competition! Our Cadets have been working hard every day since our semester started to practice for this event and all those early mornings paid off! These Cadets showed a phenomenal performance in physical fitness, tactical knowledge, casualty care, and teamwork. Great job Blue Jay Cadets you make our program very proud!
Blue Jay RC Team Members
- Atkinson, Christopher- UMBC
- Batra, Ayush- UMBC
- Barua, Alok- UMBC
- Bland, Jacob- UMBC
- Fall, Mohamed- UMBC
- Hall, Jackson- Stevenson
- Herrera, Elizabeth- JHU
- Jackson, Ben- JHU
- Jackson, Kazuya- UMBC
- Kapoor, Shivani- JHU
- Marbut, Alex- UMBC
- Postma, Solana- JHU
- Rivers, Lily- JHU Peabody
- Thompson, Hektor- JHU
This year’s competition consisted of events such as Humvee push, Call for fire, Tactical Casualty Combat Care (TCCC), One rope bridge, Cognitive challenge, Weapons assembly/ disassembly, 6-mile ruck, Grenade assault course, M17 pistol range, and ASIP radio.
Cadet Atkinson is a Junior at UMBC and 3rd year RC team member. You can read more about his experience on the RC team below.
“Being a RC participant signifies a commitment to rigorous training, physical fitness, leadership development, and the pursuit of excellence. As a team we engage in an intense military competition that tests our tactical skills, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. This experience prepares us for the challenges that we will face as future leaders in the Army.”
CDT Atkinson, UMBC
Cadet Postma is a first year ROTC team member from JHU. Read more about her experience below.
“I am a new Cadet, with about a month of ROTC experience. I joined Ranger Challenge (RC) to accelerate my learning and abilities as a Cadet. Being on the RC team I have learned skills that have put me ahead of my peers and given me insight as to what areas I need to improve on. Competing was such a great and experience also being able to see other Cadets from across the Brigade and I had lots of fun!”
CDT Postma, JHU
Cadet Hall has been on the team for 4 years and led the team this year, read below about his experience.
“After weeks of dedication, I am proud and confident in the warriors that the team became. There were moments of hardship with the consistent early wake ups and challenging PT plan, but we were able to motivate and hold each other accountable because we had the team first approach. Going into the competition, our team felt confident in their skills and fitness level. Everything came together the final week before the competition when we began to conduct events to standard. When we arrived at Fort Barfoot, we had success on the 2-mile run which set the tone for the weekend. Going from event to event, we succeeded to a high standard. Not every event went according to plan, but we were able to preserve and finish the 6-mile ruck as a TEAM. Seeing the growth in each Cadet is one of my proudest accomplishments, and it was my honor to develop and train the amazing Cadets within our program.”
RC Captain Cadet Hall, SU