As 48 teams competed for the top prize at the 2024 Sandhurst International Military Skills Competition on April 26 and 27, it came down to two teams fighting it out at the last event, The Crucible. When the dust settled from a hard-fought, exhausting last event, the U.S. Military Academy Black Team won the title by a whisker over the Royal Military College of Canada – Kingston by two points, 1,715 to 1,713.
Over the competition’s two days, the participants of Sandhurst came from 10 USMA company squads, USMA Black and Gold teams, 17 international teams representing 15 countries, 16 ROTC teams from across the nation and three other service academy teams.
Hosted by West Point since 1967, teams competed in a rigorous 36-hour course testing warrior spirit, cohesion and dedication to mission accomplishment. The winning team was chosen based on their collective point performance in 15 different events testing physical fitness, military skills, teamwork and leadership.
The events included Tactical Combat Casualty Care, a grenade assault course, zodiac movement, tactical communications, CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear), weapons assembly, functional fitness, M4 rifle and M17 pistol marksmanship, land navigation, obstacle course, call for fire and The Crucible.
The final results, and the teams that earned Sandhurst medallions for placing in the Top 5, were USMA Black (1,715 points), RMC Canada – Kingston (1,713), U.S. Air Force Academy (1,423), Texas A&M University (1,327) and USMA Company A-3 Anacondas (1,316). By taking the top spot, USMA Black earned the Cadet Reginald E. Johnson Memorial Award Saber Plaque.
The other award winners included RMC Canada – Kingston taking the Most Lethal Squad Marksmanship Award with the highest combined M4 rifle and M17 pistol marksmanship scores, USMA Black earning the Physical Endurance Award, Company A-3 Anacondas earning the U.S. Corps of Cadets Sandhurst Performance Award for the highest scoring U.S. Cadet Command team, RMC Canada – Kingston taking the International Cup for highest scoring international team, and Texas A&M earning the ROTC Cup as the highest scoring ROTC team in the competition.
Another award given out was for the best squad leader throughout the competition, the Tom Surdyke Leadership Award, was presented to Company A-3 squad leader and CDT Evan Symes ’24.
The award honors Tom Surdyke ’19 who died in June 2016 trying to save a swimmer caught in a rip current off a Long Island beach. While he was a hero and saved the swimmer, he went under and didn’t survive.
“Winning the Tom Surdyke Leadership Award was a massive honor,” Symes stated. “Tom Surdyke is a model of what sacrifice and doing the right thing looks like, and I look up to him and his legacy. While it may seem obvious, I really could not have won this award without the help of my team.
Excerpt and image taken from https://www.westpoint.edu.
