WSU and University of Idaho will host the ROTC Ranger Challenge for the first time in at least five years starting Thursday. 

Cadet Leon Smith, senior construction engineering major, said the challenge is a niche event within the ROTC programs at WSU, in which a team from the program tries out and is selected to compete in various skills over a three-day period.

The event will begin on Thursday, but Friday and Saturday will be the main days of the competition, Smith said. Depending on the event, the challenge will be spread across the two campuses.

Smith said he is one of the co-captains of the WSU team.

“Us three have been working together to train,” he said. “For the entire year leading up to the competition [my role] is to plan and provide the necessary training so the team doesn’t have any surprises when leading up to the event.”

The team trains for five to six days a week for about one hour and 30 minutes to three hours a day, he said. Starting in the fall semester, students practiced marksmanship, weapons testing, using a map and compass and physical challenges, like rough marching.

“It’s pretty much hiking, but it’s not as much fun and you don’t get to look at pretty scenery as you go,” Smith said. 

Smith first took part in the competition in 2021, he said. 

“My freshman year I wasn’t a part of the program when the competition was happening. I joined the ROTC program the spring semester. COVID kind of took out my sophomore year,” Smith said.

There are 11 people on the team’s roster and nine people participating in the event, who are selected at the beginning of the challenge, Smith said. The remaining two members will serve as alternates. 

Smith said there are about 10 other teams participating in the event from around the Northwest, including teams from Alaska, Nevada, California and more. There are eight brigades, or brackets, in the challenge. WSU has not advanced far in the competition in recent memory.

“The point of the competition is to then move on [to the next round]. There’s a giant nationwide bracket,” he said.  “Last year we got second place [in the first bracket], so in any other year without the residual effects of COVID, we would have moved on.”

Last year the event was held individually by each school to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, said Sgt. First Class Patrick Valkovic, senior military science instructor. 

Smith felt as if the pandemic put most teams behind in the competition in the following years, he said. 

WSU has participated every year the event has existed to Valkovic’s knowledge. This is his second year participating as a coach in the event, he said. 

“I advise the Ranger Challenge captains. All ROTC cadet events are cadet-led, so that helps them create their leadership style,” Valkovic said. “We advise them on their decision making. … We don’t want to take that experience development away from the cadets themselves.”

Smith said the event helps build mental fortification and the ability to balance school, the competition and a proper sleep schedule all at once.

“I’d also say time management is a big one as well. Throughout the semester you kind of figure out who on the team wants to make it a priority,” Smith said.

Participants also learn to build teamwork and improve their mental toughness, Valkovic said.

Smith said he is very proud of his team for all the work and time they have put into the event.