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 Ohio University Army ROTC "Bobcat Battalion"

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BEST RANGER GOLD FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR

            For the second year in a row, a team from Ohio University’s Bobcat Battalion earned First Place in the annual Best Ranger Competition, held at Xavier University.  Over 40 universities from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee sent two to three two-man teams to compete for the Best Ranger team from those schools.

            The winning team of Lee Heintzelman and Craig Dolhi showed dominance in every event during the late April competition.  Best Ranger events include the Army Physical Fitness Test, Hand Grenade Assault Course, a patrolling test, weapons assembly and disassembly, firing a weapon under stress, land navigation, one-rope bridge crossing, and a 10K foot march.  Cadets’ Heintzelman and Dolhi started training for these events months in advance to make sure to come out with another victory for The Bobcat Battalion.  Cadet Heintzelman said afterward, “Preparation was tough.  Having to get up at 5:30 every day, Monday through Friday…and then working even more on the weekends.  It was tough.  You just have to become proficient in so many different tasks that all of that preparation really is needed.  In the end, though, the effort was definitely worth it!”

            This is the 2^nd year in a row that The Bobcat Battalion has won Best Ranger, with Cadets Grant Perry and Joe McGrew winning the 2009 Best Ranger competition as freshmen.  Professor of Military Science, LTC Bill Hauschild, says this fares well for the Bobcat Battalion’s future.  “We actually had three teams in the top four this year and every Best Ranger team member was an underclassman.  So, next year we should be extremely competitive in both Best Ranger and in Ranger Challenge next fall at Fort Knox.”  Ranger Challenge is a competition in which a single ten-cadet team from each of the 40+ colleges from this region square off against each other for bragging rights.  The Bobcat Battalion has always done well at Ranger Challenge and the cadets are excited for this coming fall to see their training pay off.  According to Cadet Dolhi, “Winning this competition and looking at how our other teams did this year makes me totally excited for next fall.  The potential for our 2010 Ranger Challenge team to win it all is there.  I can’t wait!”

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