Ranger Challenge

On October 17-18, 2009, The Gonzaga University Bulldog Battalion Black Team won the Task Force Big Sky Ranger Challenge Championship at Montana. For the first time in the Battalion's history this year's teams witnessed a first and second place finish with the Gold team taking second place.

Gonzaga and Whitworth cadets worked together under the leadership of cadet 2lt Jordan Hinkle and Cadet SGT Scotty Oplinger, the OIC and NCOIC of this years teams. Hinkle lead the Black team as captain while Oplinger maintained the Gold team as captain. Each team consists of 9 competitors and an alternate whom work together to accomplish the mission in various events. The competition starts with the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) including pushups, situps and a 2 mile run. From there, the teams move through the following events in a round robbin system including the M16 disassembly/reassembly, land navigation written test, hand grenade assault course (HGAC), a litter carry, and the rope bridge. The teams finish with a 10K ruck march that, for the Gonzaga teams, is considered nothing short of a ruck RUN.