BRC competitors represent Army's best

FORT BENNING, Ga., (April 8, 2015) -- A field of 51 teams is expected at the starting line April 10 for the 32nd annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition, which will run through April 13.

The first event is scheduled to start at 6 a.m. April 10 at Camp Rogers, and the competition will wrap up the afternoon of April 12 at Freedom Hall. The formal awards ceremony will be at 10 a.m. April 13 in Marshall Auditorium in McGinnis-Wickam Hall.

The three-day Best Ranger Competition was established in 1982 and has been compared to Ironman and Eco-Challenge competitions. The competition challenges two-man Ranger teams in events that test their physical conditioning, Ranger skills and team strategies. The events are purposely scheduled back-to-back and around-the-clock for 60 hours, allowing little time for rest and meals.

"I'm looking forward to seeing 102 great competitors out here participating in one of the most rigorous competitions certainly in the United States, but possibly in the world," said Maneuver Center of Excellence Commanding General Maj. Gen. Scott Miller. "The distances they're going to move, the thought processes they're going to have to put in and their problem solving is going to be phenomenal. ... Everyone will look at Best Ranger as a very physical event, but as they hit different events, they're going to have to figure out what is required and the best way to attack the problem and ultimately solve it."

Of the 50 teams at the starting line in 2014 only 26 finished the competition. In the 2013 competition, 50 teams started the competition. Only 23 finished.

Despite the challenges they will undoubtedly face during the competition, Miller said the competitors' willingness to face those challenges should be an example for the rest of the Army.

"As you watch these individuals, it should inspire us to try to achieve the same level of physical capability and display the mental willpower to stick with it and persevere," he said. "It's perseverance through adversity. When you think you're not able to go any further, you just think about these competitors who continue to go farther and faster than any other Soldier."

Col. David Fivecoat, commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, said the competition is a highly anticipated event within the Ranger community.

"Each year 1,500 Soldiers earn the coveted Ranger Tab," Fivecoat said. "The Best Ranger Competition pits the best of these elite Soldiers against one another in a three-day test of their physical abilities, mental toughness, tactical skills and endurance to discover who is the best team of rangers in the U.S. Army. The Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, as well as the 77,000 Soldiers who have earned the Ranger Tab, look forward to this event each year to come together and witness their brothers in arms attempt to join the 64 others who previously have won the Best Ranger Competition."

The Best Ranger Competition began in 1982 after Ranger Hall of Fame member Dick Leandri wanted to honor Lt. Gen. David E. Grange Jr., a past director of the Ranger Department and former commanding general of Fort Benning, with an annual event.

Leandri and several other professional businessmen formed Chairborne Rangers, Inc., to help support the initiation of such an event. The competition was not conducted in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The only other time the competition was canceled was during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

The Rangers who compete represent the best the Army has to offer in terms of optimized human performance. The Best Ranger Competition epitomizes human performance optimization and talent management processes through assessing, selecting and training the best Soldiers from across the Army to showcase the Army's warrior ethos and excellence in tactical athlete human capabilities.

"We are talking about human performance throughout the Army right now, and we have a special focus on it here at Fort Benning," Miller said. "We're examining the development of a Soldier and leader who is able to physically and cognitively outmaneuver their adversary, and I think you're going to get 102 great examples of that this weekend.

BRC competitors exemplify several key aspects of the Army's human dimension strategy, including team building, health and holistic fitness. The competition provides a forum for the Army to showcase adaptive and agile leaders who successfully display the skills and capabilities to dominate adversaries and win on today's and future battlefields. These Ranger competitors are world-class professional athletes who set the standard for others to follow and emulate.

The competition showcases the competence, physical and mental stamina, and competitive spirit of the Rangers, regardless of what unit they are currently serving with.

This year's events will include sit ups, the Malvesti obstacle course, the Darby Queen, a moving target range at Malone Range, an urban assault course at McKenna Military Operations in Urban Terrain site, an unknown distance run, an unknown distance swim at Victory Pond, a combat water survival assessment, helocast, an unknown distance foot march, night land navigation, night orienteering, weapons assembly, a written test on the Ranger handbook, silhouette charge demolitions, an unknown distance weighted carry, an unknown distance body armor run, a stress shoot at Krilling Range, establishment of a mortar firing point, a grenade assault course, a Ranger first responder event, knot tying, an unknown distance buddy run, a spot jump with litter carry, metronome pushups and a tower with a rock wall, rappelling, caving ladder, rope climb and fast rope. There will also be a number of mystery events.

All events are timed and competitors score points for each completed event. Both team members must complete each task.

The competition keeps the competitive edge of the Rangers sharp while they are with units that are not currently engaged in combat operations around the world. The competition is a positive representation of what Rangers do every day. Not all military forces are deployed, and those that remain in the continental United States must strive to maintain a high state of readiness and continue to strive to be the best that they can be.

"We show that the Army is very serious about training," Miller said. "This Army is going to fight and win the nation's wars, and these are the types of Soldiers that are members of that Army."

Several current and former key leaders such as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Daniel Allyn, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey and Grange, the event's namesake, will be in attendance.

"This is a great opportunity to meet these individuals, and they'll be available to say hello to our community and our Families," Miller said.

While new access control measures have been implemented in recent weeks, BRC will remain open to spectators outside Fort Benning.

Visitors attending the Best Ranger Competition will be permitted to enter Fort Benning using a special event lane at the Harmony Church Access Control Point. On April 13, BRC visitors attending the awards ceremony at Marshall Auditorium may use the far right lane at the Interstate 185 Access Control Point. Visitors will need to show a state-issued picture ID. Visitors should inform the guard they are attending BRC.

"It's a great opportunity to get behind this and support the competitors," Miller said. "We'll have some great vantage points to watch this, and I encourage all members of the Fort Benning and the tricommunity to come out and watch."