UWM Army ROTC students qualify for international military skills competition

An Army ROTC team from Milwaukee that includes three UWM students is headed to the international Sandhurst Military Skills competition at West Point.

Seniors Douglas Machkovech and Alfonso Cordova, along with junior Alexander Goltz, are part of a nine-member Army ROTC team from Milwaukee that took second place in the Midwest in the Ranger Challenge, a military skills and endurance competition for Army ROTC programs. The second-place finish at the regional competition in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, qualified the team for the West Point event in April.

A separate, five-member Milwaukee Army ROTC team that included UWM junior Sydney Sanchez finished in first place in the Midwest. Five-member teams include men and women.

The nine- and five-member teams also won first place in their respective categories in the Wisconsin/Michigan Upper Peninsula competition. Only nine-person teams can advance to the Sandhurst competition.

Hosted by West Point since 1967, the Sandhurst Military Skills competition includes about 50 teams representing international military academies, ROTC programs and the four U.S. service academies in what organizers call a “rigorous 27-mile course to test individual and squad mastery of military skills.”

The Milwaukee Army ROTC team also qualified for Sandhurst last year, finishing in 16th place.

The ROTC program at UWM is housed in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. UWM ROTC students are part of the Golden Eagle Battalion, which also includes members from Marquette, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Concordia and UW-Parkside.

Army ROTC in Milwaukee belongs to 3rd Brigade, which oversees 42 Army ROTC programs in the Midwest.

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