Team F3 at assembly site before the competition.

Equipment Inspection. Each Team members appearance and equipment is inspected before competition begins. Points are deducted for dirty weapons, missing parts or incorrect answers to inspector's questions.

Team F3 prepares for take-off.

We got off to a bad start by not making it to the starting line near Camp Buckner by 6:40 a.m. By the time we caught up to our son, his company had already done two stations (military inspection, then rifle shooting) and they were at "the contamination area" donning gas masks to run the next 1.5 miles to the next station. At that point, I asked a soldier in a truck if I could follow the team, and he shows me a map, says "no problem, you can't miss the trail, they've all been running this course since January."

Almost every competitor's least favorite part of the Sandhurst course: "Gas masks on!"

So off I run, leaving my family to the bus. Well, initially the soldier was right. You couldn’t miss the trail because it was a quagmire of mud, rocks, and underbrush and, it was all uphill! Needless to say, I was sucking wind, but I kept thinking, how are the kids doing this with gas masks and packs on? Better than me!

After running 1.5 miles in gas masks through woods and streams, over hills and dales, Team F3 approaches the weapons assembly point - and time to finally remove the gas masks. Team supporters who ran the course behind competitors and offered immeasurable moral encouragement can be seen behind team members.

I caught up to the H1 company at station 4 where they were to disassemble and reassemble their weapons. I kept getting strange looks from the other cadets who were running along with the team for support. They were probably wondering "who’s the fat lady with fatigues?" At that point, things got a little dicey. The next portion of the course was to test the soldier’s navigation skills and they were to find a station hidden in the woods and, of course, navigate cross country. The cadets very quickly got so far ahead of me, I couldn’t see or hear them. I was really using my tracking skills until their tracks ended in a patch of 6 foot high sticker bushes. I thought, they couldn’t possibly have run through that! Wrong!, they did. Convinced that I was hopelessly lost, I started heading to the road nearby and figured I’d run back to West Point and catch them at the finish line. Well, as it turns out, I took a short cut and beat them to the next station, river crossing.

Using a team-build rope bridge- Points are deducted if any part of equipment or competitor touches the water.

This is were the cadets erect a rope bridge and cross a river on the rope, one at a time. Of course, at this point several (non participating) H1 cadets were out looking for me! The next task was to go through a 3 ft wide culvert under 9W and run up a hill to the 12 ft wall that the cadets were to climb.

Every team member must get over the 12 foot wall. Strategy depends on team and every team uses a different strategy. Some make it look almost easy., others find it nearly impossible and the best laid plans sometimes fail.

Well, I kept up with cadets in the culvert and again fell miserably behind on the hill. A couple of female firsts, suspiciously stayed within eye shot of me after that-running when I ran, walking when I walked-I thought-how sweet-but really-what leadership! They were respecting my pride but carrying out their responsibility to ensure my safety. Well, I missed the wall climbing and joined up with my 10 year old son and my son’s girlfriend and rushed to the rappel spot. At this point, the cadets set up and rappel down about a 30 ft rock face with a minimum of three bounds. Points are subtracted for going down the wrong side of the rope, not doing enough bounds, etc. Believe me, it was a challenge getting down along the side (ropes provided for safety) now with 10 year old in toe.

Company F3 Sandhurst team members prepare Swiss seats before rappelling phase of competition.

The rest of the course was all down hill culminating in the cadets pushing a humvee (with locked brakes) around the superintendent’s house to the finish line. What an experience!

The final event of competition was maneuvering a Humvee around obstacles while "circling the block" - without benefit of motor. Team members were required to use muscle power and ingenuity testing teamwork and stamina.

Company F3 Sandhurst team sprints to the finish line after completing the Humvee obstacle course - the last event of the competition.

After all competition sites come equipment layout and inspection. Points are subtracted for missing equipment.

We were invited to attend a company barbecue in the yard inside the barracks and that was a great opportunity to meet the rest of my son’s company and see "all my boys" that I’ve come to feel like a mother too. I left West Point this weekend dreading graduation day in two years, knowing I will miss these kids forever.

For those of you who have never heard of Sandhurst, that’s a competition between groups from USMA, the British Royal Academy (at Sandhurst), the Canada’s Royal Military College, and several ROTC groups from various colleges, testing military skills and endurance. This year marks the 33^rd competition. The Sandhurst team is extraordinary. They do nothing but train for these kind of events and it shows. Their precision in the bridge crossing was incredible. The last time that the West Point team won was in 1993. We didn’t do too well this year, maybe next year!