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| A cadet from Iowa State University holds a placard memorializing 1st Lt. Jared Southworth during the opening ceremony to the 3rd ROTC Brigade Gaspers-Cahill Ranger Challenge March 16 at Camp Dodge, Iowa. Southworth and one of his Soldiers were killed February 8, 2009 by an improvised explosive device during a road clearing operation near Kabul, Afghanistan. The challenge was named for two of the brigade’s 11 alumni who died in combat. Both University of Nebraska graduates, 1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers and Capt. Joel E. Cahill, were killed in Iraq. |
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By Capt. Olivia Cobiskey
318th Public Affairs Operation Center
CAMP DODGE, IA – Cadets from across the Midwest stood at parade-rest while Col.
Dean P. Shultis welcomed them to the first 3rd ROTC Brigade Gaspers-Cahill Ranger
Challenge during an opening ceremony March 16.
“Winning is a habit,” said Shultis, commander
of the 3rd Reserve Officer Training Corps command at Great Lakes,
Ill. “It takes preparation, commitment, and self-sacrifice. Something all of
you have already shown by making here.
“You are already a step a head of your peers.”
The challenge was named for two of the
brigade’s 11 alumni who died in combat. Both University of Nebraska graduates,
1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers and Capt. Joel E. Cahill, were killed in Iraq.
Claire Hansen, 22, a senior at Cahill’s alma mater, Creighton University, said
she was inspired and motivated by Shultis’ speech.
“It’s really inspiring to hear someone like
the colonel say that he’s proud of us and appreciates us coming here and that
he thinks we’ve done a good job already,” said Hansen, who leaves for her Basic
Officer Leadership Course in at the end of May. “And we haven’t even competed
yet.”
All of the men being honored during this year’s 3rd ROTC Bde., Ranger
Challenge, attended one of the schools in the brigade’s 10-state region prior
to going on active duty, Shultis added.
One of those was Capt. Edward D. Iwan, of
Albion, Neb., who was killed November 2004 in Fallujah Iraq while assigned to
the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment when a
rocket-propelled grenade struck his Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
“It would have meant so much to him,” said
Donna Iwan, regarding one of the challenges being named after her son.
“Tradition was so important to him.”
Iwan left his family farm and enlisted as a
mechanic in the U.S. Army in 1994, Donna said.
“He always said, ‘anywhere you are, you can
work as a mechanic while you go to school,’” she said.
Iwan was practical like that, she added. It
was a trait that would help him succeed in the ROTC at the University of
Nebraska, the Nebraska Army National Guard, and as a 2nd Lieutenant
deployed in Iraq.
He lived and breathed military training and
planned to make a career of the military, Donna said.
“He was really dedicated to his men,” Donna
said. “He was more grown up then I realized.”
He was promoted to captain posthumously.
Annually, more than 300 universities nationwide have teams compete in a series
of challenging events. Locally, cadets compete against teams within the 3rd
ROTC Brigade region, which includes North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Missouri, and Michigan’s
upper peninsula.
Twelve teams from the upper Midwest will test their physical stamina and
technical skills in the three-day event starting March 16 at Camp Dodge, Iowa.
Five of the teams won their Task Force Challenges, two are “wild cards” – the
top two-second place winners, and five are all-female teams.
The competition includes the Army Physical Fitness Test, a 10-kilometer road
march, basic rifle marksmanship, orienteering, weapons assembly and
disassembly, a grenade assault course and constructing a one-rope bridge.
The name and spirit for the competition also
honor the U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga. Training for this event
includes rigorous physical fitness workouts, information classes on various
elements of light infantry tactics, and a weekend field training exercise where
rifle marksmanship, rope-bridge, land navigation,10-kilometer road march and
many more skills are tested.
The winning 9-person team will represent the 3rd Brigade in this year’s
Sandhurst Competition, April 20-21, at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
N.Y. They will compete against other U.S. Army Cadet Command teams, select
teams from West Point, the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School team, and
international teams.
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| An all female team from University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse stands at parade rest during the opening ceremony to the 3rd ROTC Brigade Gaspers-Cahill Ranger Challenge March 16 at Camp Dodge, Iowa. The team sang the National Anthem during the ceremony. Five all-female teams from various schools will compete against each other for the first time this year. The challenge was named for two of the brigade’s 11 alumni who died in combat. Both University of Nebraska graduates, 1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers and Capt. Joel E. Cahill, were killed in Iraq. |
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