<p>The annual Sandhurst competition is coming up this Saturday (May 3). You can find info on it at:</p>
<p>Sandhurst</a> Competition</p>
<p>USMA fields a team from each company in the Corps to compete with teams from places such as Canada, Great Britain, and several domestic ROTC units. The participants have been training for months now to compete. </p>
<p>Regards!</p>
<p>^^^Will your cadet be a participating in the Sandhurst competition?</p>
<p>Yep! She has really enjoyed it so far.</p>
<p>I talked with our Cow son yesterday and he says the training has been pretty intense for the Sandhurst competition. For those unfamiliar with the nine physical and military skill event competition, each nine person team must include at least one female member. </p>
<p>Shogun, your daughter's running skills will come in handy since my son says that the team's conditioning, especially running, are vital to the team's overall success.</p>
<p>I read the schedule for the competition and asked my son why all the teams had to report to Ike Hall at 4am on Saturday. He said that the teams are being kept in a kind of quarantine until the team starts the events since, in past years, teams have sent out 'scouts' to the various event locations to find any usefull intel and and then relay that info to their own team. </p>
<p>Should be a fun day for the cadets.</p>
<p>We are going up to watch the competition. It sounds as if it will be a long but good day :). Keep your fingers crossed for good weather...</p>
<p>aspen and shogun,</p>
<p>Best of luck to your cadets and their teams!</p>
<p>Ann, have a blast!! Is your son competing also?</p>
<p>Hi MOT - yes he is also competing.</p>
<p>Ann--takes lots of pics!!!</p>
<p>Ann - If you could take any pics of the C-2 team I'd be really grateful.</p>
<p>Aspen – I am so sorry I did not see your post before we left. When my husband gets home from Philly, we will need to check through the photos and see if he got any of C2. I know he did manage to get some photos of Shogun’s daughter’s team competing in the Force on Force event (she was great!).</p>
<p>It was cold and rainy in the morning but dried out in the afternoon. The first team started at 6am, and thereafter in 10 minute intervals. Each team had a spirit group running behind them to cheer them on. We were able to run the course with our son’s company spirit team and watch the team compete in most events (no spectators were allowed on the range or for the first aid station) – it was such a privilege. It is a tough and grueling course and the level of teamwork and camaraderie is simply amazing. After the awards ceremony, we were able to join our cadet in central area for their company barbeque. It was a weekend like no other we have been to and definitely one of the best – simply awesome and highly recommended!</p>
<p>Ann,
I tried to send you a PM this morning but it says your message allotment is full--you may need to clean the box out a bit to receive any more (gee--you are pretty popular! :) )</p>
<p>Shogun,
I have emptied my PM box....</p>
<p>Just wanted to give a big "shout out" to Ann for being able to provide some great pics of our cadet and her team------
THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!!! :) (Mama-san is also very happy.)</p>
<p>Ok so I know winnng isnt all that the day is about but for interest sake, who won?</p>
<p>who won?: Overall - Sandhurst Red. They were great!</p>
<p>I'm glad you liked the pics Shogun :).</p>
<p>Thanks! Good to see Sandhurst doing so well, their commissioning course is not very long so its impressive that they can build up the skills and team work and physical requirements required in a couple of months. Well done to all who competed, sounds like a great day!</p>
<p>Ann,</p>
<p>Thanks for checking the photos for C-2 shots. </p>
<p>I spoke with our son yesterday and he said he really enjoyed Sandhurst, with the exception of the water crossing which he said 'froze him to the bone'. Fortunately it was the next to last event so he didn't need to stay in his wet uniform much longer. He said that even though his team finished 24th out of 43 teams, he had a blast and was glad he participated.</p>
<p>There are a couple of differences between the teams that compete for RMAS and the West Point Teams--
1. While the commissioning course is shorter at RMAS it is also mostly pure military instruction/training--its not a four year academic college like West Point. Many (if not all) the RMAS cadets already have a college degree.</p>
<ol>
<li> RMAS selects two teams from their entire complement of cadets (ie they have an opportunity to put "the best of the best" together for the competition ) whereas West Point creates approx 32 teams (one for each company) which kind of "dilutes" the talent pool and spreads it out amongst a much larger number of competing entities.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Iam pretty certain that if West Point ever decided to field, say 5 teams instead of 32 they would probably be on a bit more of an even playing field. Still, the opportunity to give so many cadets the chance to train and compete in such a rewarding activity more than likely outweighs the desire to just "win".</p>
<p>From the website: "At its core, Sandhurst is an inter-company competition for USMA. "</p>
<p>Yes, the water was cold. I know there was one plebe who was treated for hypothermia after he completed the course.</p>
<p>Point taken Shogun but I still think its impressive (not necessarily more so than a company team winning) they do only field a couple of teams but then they dont have that many people to pick from and never any people who have participated before and a limited time to train but yea at the end of the day its about participation and it would be sad if it was otherwise. </p>
<p>Im a bit biased because touch wood in about a year my big brother will be an officer in the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a Sandhurst grad!</p>
<p>I think about 15% of the regular commissioning course cadets dont have degrees (Prince Harry didnt).</p>