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26 teams still standing after grueling road march

Fort Benning, Ga. — The field of 49 two-man teams vying to make it to the second day of the three-day Best Ranger Competition was 23 teams lighter by Saturday morning.

Among the 26 teams remaining were five from the 75th Ranger Regiment, four from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the two teams from the 25th Infantry Division who traveled to compete on their mid-tour leave from combat in Iraq.

Three teams representing the 4th Infantry Division were still in the running, as was the only team representing the 10th Mountain Division.

As in past Best Ranger Competitions, the grueling overnight 25-mile road march on Friday spelled the end of the contest for those eliminated.

Sgt. Alan Leggitt and his teammate, Capt. Dan Talmadge from the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., trained for three months. Each was competing for the first time and learned something about the limits of the human body.

“The pace was just non-stop; it was very strenuous, and there wasn’t a lot of time for the body to recover,” said Leggitt, who said he began to vomit on the road march from exhaustion and over-hydration.

A second team from the JRTC also fell out, having had much the same experience.

“We made it to the middle of the road march, and I started going onto the side of the road just puking up all the liquids I had taken,” said 1st Lt. Travis Stutes. His body also started developing cramps in his abdomen, hips, hamstrings and quadriceps.

He said he passed several teams lying on the side of the road suffering with many of the same symptoms.

The only team from the Marine Corps was also eliminated.

“We got to about mile 12 on the separator,” as Master Gunnery Sgt. Charles Padilla called the brutal road march, saying his “feet got really bad.”

Limping slowly into the headquarters building of the Ranger Training Brigade to turn in his final paperwork ending his and teammate Sgt. Chris Baumgartner’s participation in the race, Padilla said they felt comfortable being the only Marine Corps team in the race.

“Those are our brothers; a Ranger is a Ranger,” said Padilla, who earned his Ranger tab in 1987. “We’re proud of being Marines, but we’re also proud of being Rangers.”

The 26 remaining teams will spend the day Saturday at Todd Field demonstrating their technical competence at warrior skills. Later, they will launch into the overnight land navigation portion of the contest, which historically has yielded a second round of team eliminations.

The following is a list of the teams still standing for day-two of the Best Ranger Competition:

1. Staff Sgt. Mitchell Tisserand

Capt. Aaron Chonko

5th Ranger Training Battalion

2. Sgt. 1st Class Derek Wise

Sgt. David Paul

25th Infantry Division

3. Sgt. Michael Malchow

Sgt. Jesse Collins

75th Ranger Regiment

4. Staff Sgt. Brandon Farmer

Staff Sgt. Luke McDowell

75th Ranger Regiment

5. Capt. Stephen Magennis

Capt. Todd Tompkins

Maneuver Captains Career Course

6. Staff Sgt. Raylan Heck

Staff Sgt. Adam Angrisanio

6th Ranger Training Battalion

7. Sgt. Edward Killmeier

Spc. Michael Pierce

75th Ranger Regiment

8. Maj. Pete Kranenburg

Sgt. 1st Class John Przytulski

1st Special Warfare Training Group

9. Sgt. 1st Class Blake Simms

Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stackpole

4th Ranger Training Battalion

10. Master Sgt. Walter Zajkowski

Master Sgt. Daniel Jenkins

U.S. Special Operations Command

11. Master Sgt. Eric Turk

Sgt. Maj. Jesse Boettcher

U.S. Special Operations Command

12. Maj. Jose Salinas

Maj. Edward Sedlock

199th Training Brigade

13. Capt. Ronald Garberson

Capt. Anthony Aguilar

U.S. Special Operations Command

14. Staff Sgt. Benjamin Hunter

Staff Sgt. Ian Hunter

75th Ranger Regiment

15. 1st Lt. Grant Barge

Capt. Robert Killian

10th Mountain Division

16. Sgt. Jeremy Billings

Cpl. Troy Jenkins

75th Ranger Regiment

17. Staff Sgt. Michael Mutchie

Staff Sgt. Miguel Antia

4th Ranger Training Battalion

18. 1st Lt. Chris Migliaro

Sgt. 1st Class Jordan Martell

4th Infantry Division

19. 1st Lt. Lauren Gore

1st Lt. Benjamin Juvinall

1st Infantry Division

20. Staff Sgt. Anthony Fuentes

Capt. David Cochrane

6th Ranger Training Battalion

21. 1st Lt. Anthony Kivlehan

1st Lt. Alex Armstrong

4th Infantry Division

22. 1st Lt. Thomas Halverson

1st Lt. Michael Luth

4th Infantry Division

23. Sgt. 1st Class Cedric King

Staff Sgt. Rommel Hurtado

199th Training Brigade

24. Capt. Lloyd Wohlschlegel

1st Lt. Raymond Kuderka

25th Infantry Division

25. 1st Sgt. Robert Carter

Capt. Samuel Linn

2nd Infantry Division

26. Sgt. 1st Class Mark Breyak

Sgt. 1st Class Steve Fields

Special Warfare Group NCO Academy

READ MORE:

• Injuries mark first day of Best Ranger

• Best Ranger kicks off at Benning