St. John's Northwestern Military Academy (SJNMA) Raiders participated in the Raider Nationals in Molena, Georgia, on November 14 and 15, 2009. Placing eighth overall, they proudly stood out amongst 25 schools and 40 teams that competed in five events. LTC Roger Rabiego and SFC Mike Trione, JROTC faculty at SJNMA, took 13 cadets who displayed teamwork, discipline, determination, tenacity and sheer guts in the competition.
Beginning early Saturday morning with the Raider Gauntlet, cadets ran a distance of one mile uphill carrying four rucksacks weighing 35 pounds each over extremely uneven, rough terrain and returning. Then they competed in Rope Bridging, constructing a bridge with nothing more than 150 feet of rope and two carabiners capable of carrying all members of the team across the river. Then cadets participated in the Cross Country Rescue where they ran cross-country over a two-mile course carrying six rucksacks each weighing 35 pounds and one stretcher weighing 95 pounds. Then they ran in a 5 km Team Run over an extremely steep 3.5 miles. The day ended with the Physical Fitness Test where cadets were timed for four minutes to see how many pushups and sit-ups they could do continuously. On Sunday morning, the individual competition was held in which Cadet 1LT Anthony Navarro completed a three-mile run with a multitude of extremely strenuous events along the way that culminated with a successful climb up and over a 10-foot wall. He truly represented SJNMA very well.
Each cadet demonstrated the skills and attributes that SJNMA stands for, and their teamwork and dedication to each other cannot be explained in words. SJNMA cadets commented that this was the toughest thing they ever did and one cadet remarked that it was tougher than any football game he ever played.
