Alana Hubbard and Monica Carapia
The Ottumwa High School Bulldog Battalion JROTC Raider Team traveled to Wentworth Military Academy recently for the Red Dragon Raider Challenge. The Raiders competed in the Army Physical Fitness Test, the 10K Road March, One-rope Bridge, Poncho Raft Obstacle Course, Cross Country Litter Carry, the Raider Onslaught, and the Dirty Name Challenge.
The meet included 14 teams from three states (MO, KS, and IA) representing the Army and Air Force.
In the Poncho Raft Obstacle Course, the team is broken down into two teams of four. Each team built a raft from two rain ponchos and negotiated five obstacles in an Olympic-size pool. The raft must include two sets of ACU’s, two medium ruck sacks, and two poles and was bound by para cord.
The Cross Country Litter Rescue event was a timed event where the cadets carried a litter with 100-pound weight and four ruck sacks weighing approximately 20 pounds each. The ruck sacks also included bridging and personal equipment. Throughout the course, the team encountered stations and obstacles where they performed skills of strength, endurance, accuracy, and knowledge. The formal evaluated stations were the First Aid station, where the cadets splinted a fracture; the Sled Pull; Map Reading; and a 25-foot rope climb.
The Raider Onslaught was an event where all eight team members moved over rough terrain, through a heavily wooded area, over a 40-foot cargo net, and over seven other obstacles while completing the tasks of knot tying (including the clove hitch, butterfly, square, figure eight slipknot, the bowline, the double fisherman, prussic, and the double sheet bend) and map reading.
The Dirty Name was a course which included a tractor tire flip, balance beam, water can drag (2-5gal jugs), a water can carry, pipe drills (four team members do 75 bench presses and four members do 75 sit ups) with a 10 foot telephone pole.
The Bulldog Battalion took 4th place in Army Physical Fitness, 4th place in Rope Bridge, 7th in the Onslaught, 7th in the 10K Road March, and 6th place overall. The highlight of the meet for the Bulldog Raiders was Alana Hubbard finished 1st on the female Fitness Test and Monica Carapia finished a close second.
