Hound Summit Team: Best Ranger Competition Report (TJ Laynor)

Best Ranger Competition Report (TJ Laynor)

I must say I haven't had this much fun in a long time. It is fun to attempt these events without someone yelling at you or various simulations going off to peak my PTSD. MAJ Moore was also a blast to have as a partner. He is still the same old guy always trying to show up the younger guys.

The competition started early Wednesday morning as we split up into two groups to either start at the shooting range or Grenade range. Tobin and I started with the grenade range. Good thing we don't throw too many grenades in combat. For some reason all of mine liked to bounce to the left and always out of bounce. Tobin either fell really short or too long. It was safe to say that although we didn't score perfect, none else did either. The next event was a race to the top of the tower and repel down. We both accomplished this task, but I'm told they had to literally throw Tobin off the tower. After coming off the tower we each had to throw 5 tomahawks. We were the only team that received a perfect score. Good to know that although we will miss them with our grenades, we can always kill them with our tomahawks.

After a quick MRE snack we traveled to the range to compete in the M4 shoot off. Each team was given 30 rounds and had to fire 10 in the prone, kneeling and standing positions. Team OR received a 99%. I'm sure it was my blind eye that missed something. After completing the M4 shoot off we had to race our way to the Malvesti Obstacle Course. The obstacle course consisted of 5 pull ups, a rope climb, the log climb, monkey bars, the low crawl in the worm pit, and finally the 150 meter run to the finish. It seems easy, but when you have to finish as a team it can take a toll. The rope and the logs were the crux of the course, but in the end we had a finish time in the top 3.

The event was a blast and I could not have asked for a better partner. Tobin Moore made the event a challenging one. This Saturday we should find out how we did over all. The winning team gets a replicate trophy (minus the 45 cal pistols) of the one given to the winners of the actual Best Ranger Competition.

Follow Up: TJ and Tobin took second place! Rock on Fellas!