Army National Guard's Ranger hopefuls battle for spot in BRC field

By Adrienne Anderson, The BayonetNovember 19, 2010

Adrienne Anderson, The Bayonet
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FORT BENNING, Ga. - Fort Benning's Warrior Training Center hosted an assessment Wednesday to find the best Rangers in the Army National Guard to represent the service in the 2011 Best Ranger Competition.

The 13 participants came from New Mexico, Illinois, Indiana, Alaska, Mississippi, and Georgia. The tryouts were based on individual performances with the hopes of finding the best two-man teams for the Best Ranger Competition. 1st Lt. Christopher Pegg, intelligence officer, said the goal of the tryouts was to select up to three teams for the BRC based on the individual performance of each Ranger.

"We are assessing to find the best possible Rangers to represent the Army National Guard," Pegg said.

Events for the evaluation, which kicked off at 1:30 a.m., included land navigation, Ranger physical fitness test, obstacle course, foot march, M4 shoot and the final run.

Capt. Trace Trudell from Alaska said the tryouts gave an idea of what the Best Ranger Competition will be about. He participated in the competition in 2006 and placed sixth. He said he hopes to finish first next year.

"I want to come back to win it," Trudell said. "My goal is top three finish. Anything less and I'll be disappointed."

1st Lt. John Ubriaco, from Fort Benning, said he hoped to make one of the top 10 teams in the competition and enjoyed the assessments.

"There is no better way to spend the day at work than doing physical training all day," he said.

The three-day 2011 Best Ranger Competition is scheduled to begin April 15 and will be the 28th anniversary of the competition.