By Justin Anderson
On Saturday, April 19, cadets from the Jim Bridger detachment of the ROTC
cadet wing, located on the campus of Utah State University in Logan, Utah, will
hold its second annual Jim Bridger Challenge obstacle race.
Participants will race across a variety of obstacles,
including a two-mile “ruck march,” where participants will run/walk two miles
with a 35 pound ruck sack on their back, a rope bridge, a grenade toss and, the
final obstacle, the water slide.
“It’s very realistic of what someone would experience in an
operational, or even combat, type of environment where just getting to the
battlefield is half your job,” said Michael Ditto, the commander in the
detachment. “If there are any students who are not even interested in joining
the military, but want to have that experience like, ‘I wonder what it would be
like to be a soldier in a really difficult circumstance or even in combat,
obviously I’m not going to be able to do that but I want to have a little bit
of that experience,’ this will give it to them.”
The cadet wing came up with the idea for a fund-raiser last
year following recent cutbacks in spending.
“There are a lot of cutbacks happening in the military right
now, and each year they tighten it more and more, and that limits our training,”
said William Burton, a cadet at the detachment.
Over the past four years, the military budget has been
reduced steadily. In 2010 the military budget reached an all-time high of
$851.3 billion. The budget has since decreased and stands at $756.4 billion.
Burton and his fellow cadets hope to raise enough money to
fund the training that will help them succeed in the military.
With the typical cost of one bullet for an M-16 slated at
nearly 25 cents per round, it becomes easier to see how much it would cost one
military group to be trained in using the gun.
Many local businesses have contributed prizes for the race,
including Buffalo Wild Wings, Lee’s Marketplace, Olive Garden and more.
The goal of the challenge isn’t just to raise money for the
detachment, but for people to become better acquainted with the ROTC.
“We’re hoping to get
our name out to the community,” said Adam Durfee, the finance officer, and
cadet in charge of the race. “We hope they will come experience the race and
some of the things we do in the army. We are having a dance party after, a slip
and slide, free hot dogs and a free climbing wall. Hopefully people will come
up and see that we’re not so scary.”
People can register at the ROTC building up until the night
before for a cost of $35 per team of three to five people. If a team misses the
deadline, they can register for the race at 10 a.m. on April 19 prior to the
race beginning at 11 a.m. Additional information can be found on the Facebook page for the event.
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