Every year, JROTC units from across Texas compete in the annual Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islander Challenge. In the challenge, students test their endurance and skills, navigating various challenges and obstacle courses. As tradition, Ray NJROTC entered and competed against many other teams.
As team captain, I led my team through a series of challenges that tested our strength, endurance, speed, and teamwork.
The events included a grenade throwing contest, an obstacle course on the beach, a 1.5 mile ruck, a combat casualty assessment, and a rifle shooting competition.
The grenade throwing contest involved cadets crawling to a place of cover then throwing an empty grenade at a marked area, while calling out their actions. The competitors had to throw grenades from three positions: standing, kneeling, prone. Contestants also had to work together to name and identify different grenades.
Luckily for our team, Cadet Seaman Iyan Chapa was an expert — identifying each grenade quickly, securing major points for our cadets.
Next, cadets faced one of the most difficult events of the Islander Challenge, the beach obstacle course. The event is notorious for wearing down even the most physically fit contestants to the point of fainting.
The course consisted of numerous exercises and obstacles such as, but not limited to: crawling through a trench, a Sprint-Drag-Carry (an event from the Army Combat Fitness Test), carrying a canoe, dragging a sled through the sand, flipping a massive tire, and doing sit-ups with a heavy wooden log.
With skill and a bit of luck, our team had no trouble pushing through harsh conditions and tests. In fact, we finished so quickly that our opposing school, Veterans Memorial San Antonio, quit the event entirely.
The third event was the 1.5 mile ruck march where cadets had to run with a 35-pound rucksack. Though some felt sick from the previous event, cadets persevered and even sang songs as they pressed on.
At first, I was concerned about the ruck march. Personally, I felt I was about to puke from the prior obstacle course. But I knew I had to keep my team motivated and determined. So, I started to sing a cadence — a song for marching in sync — and the team joined along. I made sure everyone stuck together when we crossed the finish line. We may have not gotten first, but we were together.
The fourth event involved a simulated combat casualty where teams had to treat a wounded soldier. Due to the differences between the Army and Navy, our team should’ve been completely outmatched. To make it worse, the event holders provided only brief and unhelpful instructions.
However, Cadet Lieutenant Alejandro Reyes was prepared. He had done extensive research about medical operations in the military and was able to carry the team to victory.
One of the Senior ROTC cadets supervising the event stated Ray was only one of two teams who used the correct procedures at the time, as most teams had already competed.
The fifth event, a cross-fit challenge, was kept a mystery until it began. Cadets had to participate in deadlift, push presses, kettlebell swings, and a farmer’s carry involving heavy weights over a set t distance.
Despite fatigue from previous events and a lack of experience, the Ray team pushed on. Our team focused on the events they were best at. Some members, like Cadet Petty Officer 1st Class Manuel Garcia, even went to participate in every part of the cross-fit event, guiding the team to victory.
The final event involved rifle shooting in a digital range — but first, cadets had to go to the four corners of the ROTC building doing burpees while holding 40-pound kettlebells.
In previous years, this event was nicknamed the Stress Shoot as Senior ROTC cadets from the university would yell at the JROTC competitors while they shot, deliberately trying to throw them off.
Because it was the last event, our cadets wanted to put everything they had into it. When we finished, the cadets talked to one of our rival schools, Veterans Memorial San Antonio, and made friends with them, showing great respect.
At the end of the competition, Ray did not win top three or any individual event awards. But we had still done exceptionally well, and improved from previous years. Overall, our cadets performed bravely and with determination, and had great fun doing it.
