COLUMN: Army’s hard work demands respect
There is no secret that I’m not a big Army kind of guy.
I’m a registered Democrat; I dislike war and am afraid of the selective service.
Yet when I was asked to travel with Utah State’s Army ROTC team to the Ranger Challenge competition in California last weekend, I jumped at the opportunity.
As a journalist, the opportunity to travel with a group is an exciting prospect. I traveled to California demanding a shower curtain and packing my own food and water (which might have turned out to be a good idea, four teams at the competition got poisoned by the water).
It wasn’t long into the trip that I developed a great deal of respect for everything the members of ROTCs around the country take part in.
These guys are waking up early every morning to train for the tasks they will face in the future. They spend long hours training for some of the most strenuous physical activities that the human body can take.
Over the years I have seen basketball and football teams train for their seasons and competitions, but there is no comparison to what these guys are going through when training for their Army careers.
I don’t think I will ever forget the image I saw when the teams crossed the finish line of the 10 kilometer ruck march. Everyone who finished the race was physically dejected. Some had to throw up, some required medical attention, some passed out and some even peed their pants.
You don’t see quarterbacks relieving themselves on the field that often.
Throughout the entire competition, I could tell that the Aggie team was not satisfied unless it took first place in every event. They took pride in their hard work, and every award they received throughout the competition was very well deserved.
Watching many cadets, both male and female from different schools, give it their all in the different events was an extraordinarily inspirational event for me to witness. However, there was no single performance over the weekend that was more impressive than that of USU’s Jackson Lee on the Army Personal Fitness Test.
Lee completed 157 pushups and 115 sit-ups in two two-minute events. That is nearly two and a half pushups a second and two sit-ups a second. I didn’t know it was physically possible to do two and a half pushups every second for two minutes.
Aside from all of the hard work and physically spectacular performances that I witnessed over the weekend, the thing that impressed me most about the team was their friendships with each other. This was a group of guys that could talk for hours about anything from middle names to religion. They were all intelligent and hard-working men of honor – men of honor who desire to serve this country, and protect its citizens.
Prior to the trip I was just an ignorant civilian. My eyes have been opened, and the Army has my full appreciation and respect.
Hooah.
Tyler Riggs is a freshman majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to str@cc.usu.edu.