Andy Ogle won the State of Iowa's Non-Commissioned Officer of the year competition August
21-24 at Camp Dodge, IA. It began with a weigh-in and welcome brief. They then moved to a shoot house to conduct tactical
room clearing procedures and were critiqued by senior Non-Commissioned Officers. After that they conducted a 10K road march
with 50 lbs of gear in 90 minutes or less. After the road march we took a written test over basic and advanced military knowledge.
Andy had to wake up at 3am the second day and conducted night and day
land navigation moving over rolling terrain and through marsh thickets. Once completed we moved to the obstacle course to
complete 9 obstacles in the fastest time. Then they conducted day and night fire with M-16's to the highest score
of qualification. The day ended at midnight.
On day 3 they were up
at 4am and moved out to conduct an Army Physical Fitness Test: 2 minutes of pushups, situps and a timed 2 mile run with an
additional 3 miles and finished with chinups. Once completed they moved to a staging area to conduct basic Army Warrior
Task Evaluation in which procedures are key. Andy disassembled and assembled weapons, called for indirect fire,
performed medical tasks and medevaced a casualty and searched vehicles for sensitive items. Once
completed we moved to the combatives pit for pugil stick fighting and boxing. Andy knocked out his opponent in 15 seconds. They then had to immediately recite the NCO creed one competitor at a time in front of a board of senior NCO's.
On the fourth day Andy prepared for the military boards in which
you would use military precion of ceremony to enter a room and sit infront of board of Senior Sergeant Majors who would ask
you questions over military subjects such as weapons, supply and military justice. Military Bearing and Professionalism are
also graded and critiqued. After all participants had completed their board, a winner was decided based on a point system.
Andy beat the second place participant by 17 points and the last place participant was less than 100 points behind me.
Congratulations to Andy Ogle.
Also in Alpha Phi military
news alumni Joshua Sprague '07 was re-deployed over seas for the second time. Please keep Josh in your thoughts
and prayers for a safe return home
