Endurance. Knowledge. Leadership. These three components can describe a wide variety of
things in this world- Agricultural Education, FFA, sports,or THE
MILITARY. One AEE Major, Kate Bassett (2015 Teacher Candidate) found out first hand how they applied an international military skills competition – Sandhurst. Kate has been at University Park for the past two years and in that time she has participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps(ROTC) and served as the female representative on the Penn State Sandhurst Team. Penn State ROTC is the number 1 team in the nation and the number 2 team in the world! The 2nd overall placing set a record as No ROTC school has ever placed that high in Sandhurst history!
Growing up on a small family farm showing Percheron horses, Kate is evidence that farm kids can go anywhere and achieve anything they set their mind to. The goals of the competition
are to develop leaders and international relationships. In order
for a ROTC school to compete, they have to first win their Brigade Ranger
Challenge in the fall. There are a total of 8 brigades in the country and 8
ROTC schools compete. The 10 international teams that competed this year
included two from the UK and one from China, Chile, Brazil, Qatar, Australia,
Germany, South Korea, and Canada.
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| Kate Bassett and her team putting on their proper gas masks |
What’s
involved?? Out of the members who competed in the Ranger Challenge, only 9 can
go on to the Sandhurst; companies have to try out against each other to see who
can attend. After the team is selected they train each morning from 5:30-7:00 a.m!
Sometimes they even have to meet at 5 a.m! They also have two, two hour labs every week dedicated to training for the competition.
The team does lots
of physical training, but they also train for a variety of skills which
include: military equipment identification, rope bridge construction, throwing
grenades, proper pro-mask (gas masks) assembly and running/ completing tasks
with them on, 5 different weapon systems assembly/disassembly, obstacle
completion, marksmanship, TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care), land navigation
and much more. In addition to all that training during the week, they also have
a field training exercise that is 16 hours on a Saturday. Above and beyond their practice during the
week, they also like to enjoy weekend runs as a team. Furthermore they are
expected to work out on their own in addition to the morning training – this
will help build and maintain physical endurance.
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| Kate Bassett, 2015 AEE Major and her team running to the finish line |
Competition Day. Friday’s
competition during the Sandhurst included approximately a 9 mile course that
had checkpoints along a designated route. One of the checkpoints was
marksmanship and another was a two hours time slot for land navigation up and
down very steep and rocky terrain. Friday took 5 hours for one team, from start
to finish on the course.. Saturday was about a 7-8 mile course with 18
different stations that each had a separate task. For example one was scaling a
10 foot wall while the rest were the tasks they had trained for. More information about Sandhurst can be found here.
To learn more about starting on the path to having a career that makes a positive impact on the lives of students across the globe by becoming an agricultural educator, please contact the agricultural teacher education program at teachag@psu.edu. Follow us on Twitter at TeachAgPSU, on Facebook, or on our blog!
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Jeanne Case
Student Blogger
2014 Dover HS Student Teacher
Twitter: @JRose_Case
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