Sandhurst Wins Sandhurst

The Blue Team from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (United Kingdom) took home the Reginald E. Johnson Memorial Plaque (a mounted cadet sabre) as the highest scoring squad at the 2013 Sandhurst Military Skills Competition, which was held at West Point this past weekend. Ten international teams, eight ROTC squads, four non-USMA service academies, and the 36 Companies of USCC competed in 10 “combat patrol” events (12 if one counts course time and patrol brief) over two days to determine an overall winner. Finishing 4th out of the 58 teams competing, H3 earned top-USCC honors, and 3^rd Regiment took home the Sandhurst Sword (a British officer’s sword) as the regiment with the highest aggregate of company scores, breaking 4^th Regiment’s nine-year hold on this award. Brigade Streamers, given to the highest scoring company in each regiment, went to I1, C2, H3, and I4. The Sandhurst Competition began in 1967 to promote military excellence among the Corps of Cadets. Beginning in 1992, the competition was opened to ROTC squads, and two teams from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst began participating in 1993, one of which won the event for ten years straight. In 2004, the Royal Military College of Canada began a three-year reign on the title (they came in 3^rd place this year).  In 2011, USCC B3 was the first non-Royal Military Academy/College team to win Sandhurst in 18 years; Austrilia’s Royal Military College at Duntroon won the competition last year. See more photos.