The Insurgent Team
The History and Lineage
Insurgent Team Informal History
About 1962 or 1964, Cadet Ed McKinley started the Insurgent Team (IT), the forerunner of the present Ranger Challenge Team. One of the first few in the nation, the Insurgent Team was started to teach cadets guerilla warfare and insurgency and counterinsurgency tactics.
In the 1970s, the Insurgent Team reached the height of its popularity. The Insurgent Team would rival the Sam Houston Rifles in membership. To the Insurgent Team members, their weekly drills became real. In an article published Feb. 2, 1973, The Shorthorn wrote, “Everything seemed real. Imagination or whatever, one felt that maybe there really was an enemy out there, someone ready to jump up and kill. Therefore, it was reassuring to see a soldier clutching his rifle, his eye scanning the bushes for unnatural movement.”
By 1974, the team’s guerilla style combat tactics captivated the interest of the campus, as evident with a Shorthorn reporter’s March 22, 1974, article on her time spent with the team’s weekend drill in 1974:
“Don’t let anyone tell you ROTC is a breeze. I used to think so – until I spent a weekend with the Insurgent Team at Ft. Wolters near Mineral Wells. The Insurgent Team, an extracurricular activity, specializes in guerilla warfare. Ft. Wolters’ specialty is 20 square miles of sand, prickly pear cactus, dead mesquite trees and clinging, scratchy, wait-a-minute vines. They were made for each other. … Once when we stopped briefly to check our maps, I sat down – on a cactus. Ordinarily, I would have screamed, but by that time I was convinced that if I did, we’d be massacred. Besides, I was too tired. The atmosphere is that real. Everyone takes it that seriously. There is no joking, no lagging behind, no goofing off. Each man does his part and then some. I still don’t thoroughly understand the seriousness. But I know it’s there. And I’m glad. Someday these men may be fighting real battles. They’ll be trained and ready.”
As former Insurgent Team members, Maj. (Ret.) John Glaze and Jimmie Kepler would agree, everything in the Insurgent Team battlefield was all out warfare. According to Maj. Glaze, during each of the Insurgent Team’s weekly trips, veterans and prior-service cadets, together with former Insurgent Team members, would come out in support of the team by assuming the role of the aggressors.
In the Spring of 1986, word came that the Ranger Challenge competition, started in the First Region of Cadet Command, was going to be adopted by all regions in the 86-87 school year. The Insurgent Team considered competing in the Ranger Challenge as UTA’s sole participants but the Cadre stated that the Ranger Challenge team had to be open to all cadets. Insurgent Team leaders developed a training plan, which the Professor of Military Science approved. The IT then started recruiting and training for the competition. IT made up the bulk of the team and the Ranger Challenge team trained over a few months prior to the 1986-87 Ranger Challenge competition at Camp Bullis in San Antonio. The Maverick Battalion’s Ranger Challenge team placed last among 16 teams in its first attempt.
For the 1987-88 school year, the IT was again the core of the Ranger Challenge team. Some IT members, especially those not in ROTC, objected to the focus on Ranger Challenge. Despite that, IT leaders formed the Ranger Challenge team but did not have many IT members trying out. The Corps Cadre saw the lack of support from the IT membership and questioned why the Cadre would continue to support a “student organization” that wasn’t supporting a mission the Corps of Cadets gave them. The Professor of Military Science thus withdrew support to the IT to include logistic support (i.e. office space, training weapons, MREs, uniforms, etc.) from the ROTC department. The IT moved out of its College Hall closet to a shared cubicle in the Student Union for the Spring 1988 Semester. From there the IT disbanded all together. After that, the Ranger Challenge became the successor to the Insurgent Team. All Insurgent Team members, however, came away with knowledge and experience that proved useful in life and with a bond of strong comradeship.
The Ranger Challenge Era
With the disbanding of the Insurgent Team, Ranger Challenge emerged as the new focal point of tactical excellence within the Maverick Battalion.
In November 1990, nine cadets represented the university at the Ranger Challenge championship. Amongst them was Cadet Lt. Joan Black, the first female cadet to represent the Corps through the Ranger Challenge team.
In November 1992, the Ranger Challenge team finished fourth at the Ranger Challenge state competition, the highest the team rated in the event’s seven-year history.
The battalion’s Ranger Challenge team was not only tough competitors, but compassionate ones as well. Together with the Texas Christian University Ranger Challenge team, they sacrificed their chance of earning top spots at the annual Apache Brigade Ranger Challenge 10K Road March in October 1993 when they stopped to help a Texas A&M cadet with heat stroke who was subsequently admitted to Darnell Army Community Hospital at Fort Hood in critical condition.
In October 1999, the Maverick Battalion sent two teams to the Ranger Challenge competition. The A Team, composed of juniors and seniors, placed sixth, while the B Team, made up of freshmen and sophomores, finished seventeenth. For the Mavericks, sixth place was not enough.
In 2000, leadership of the Ranger Challenge Team continued under Cadet Brian Kammerer, a prior-service Ranger-qualified Sergeant First Class (E-7). His expectations were extremely high, and he pushed the team to their limits. He led by example, setting the physical and tactical standard as the strongest and most competent cadet on the team. Before the training cycle began in earnest, he issued the following Commander’s Guidance:
98th Maverick Battalion
Ranger Challenge Team
August 23, 2000
Memorandum for Ranger Challenge Team
Subject: Commanders Guidance for Training and Intent for Mission Success
The time has come to train for the covenanted commander’s trophy. This annual event tests the teamwork, work ethic, esprit de corps, and training values of the respected teams. Keeping this in mind, I have developed a training schedule to ensure that the team is fit to win. Our teamwork and esprit de corps were paramount last year with both of our teams competing very well. I hope to strive to bigger heights this year. The only thing left to highlight is the work ethic and responsibility of the individuals on each team and the UTA team as a whole. Motivation and dedication is of essence. Because we are a small Corps, we don’t have the luxury to pick and choose cadets at will; better yet we will develop our own with the finest tools known to all leaders. These tools are not materialistic, yet they mold physical beings into the finest piece of work known to the Army as a soldier. Through mentorship and motivation, we will provide purpose and direction for the team to accomplish our goal of winning the 2000 Ranger Challenge Competition.
It is my intent to send two and maybe three teams to Ft. Hood, Texas this year to compete. The first team will consist of the six most capable and proven cadets who have established themselves as the top six best cadets to compete. The second team will be a team capable of competing for a top ten finish if not better while providing a basis for next year’s team. The third team will consist of those cadets that wish to challenge their mind and body. Furthermore, I expect the trophy to be in our hands this year at the ceremony. Last year we trained hard, but came up short due to force protection and lack of dedication. This will not happen again because the entire team last year felt the agony of defeat. Nothing feels worse than giving it everything you have and knowing that it is not enough. I will tell you this Mavericks, “we will take an arsenal of power to Ft. Hood to ensure our efforts are victorious.”
I cannot leave out a couple of norms or implied tasks that should be adhered to at all times on and off the training field. First of all, no one individual is a guarantee. Everyone will be required to complete the day’s training to standard as prescribed in the training schedule. There is one and a half and sometimes two hours allocated for training and for the sole purpose of training. You are expected to be there prior to the time designated for training. I will not interfere with your class schedule so I demand the same respect from you. I encourage all cadets in the RC program to allocate 3–4 hours of Saturday morning for training until mid-October. All cadets are also expected to adhere to the Battalion SOP during all physical training events.
Because familiarization is half the battle with Ranger Challenge, I am planning a trip sometime in mid-stride of training to go to Ft. Hood and run the land navigation terrain for the benefit of everybody that competes. We will also use this time to feel the weather, terrain, and climate in the midst of training. We are currently in the process of obtaining at least 10 weapons to train on until completion of Ranger Challenge. Key areas of technical training include one-rope bridge building and crossing, weapons proficiency, TLPs and FM 7-8 inside and out, APFT, grenade accuracy and distance, ruck run, squad situational training exercise in a field environment, and land navigation.
What it all comes down to is the ability to achieve success at a greater level than expected. You should always maintain focus on the task at hand because the second you lose focus I will be there to drop a hammer on you just as fast. Thrive on other people’s weakness, but leave no weakness for your opponent to thrive on.
In October 2000, the Maverick Battalion’s Ranger Challenge Teams, led by Cadet Brian Kammerer, captured 1st and 7th place at the 11th Annual Ranger Challenge Competition held at Fort Hood. Competing against 20 teams from across ROTC 5th Brigade, the team finished ahead of Texas A&M to secure the championship.
Team Alpha and Team Bravo of the Maverick Battalion Ranger Challenge Team after returning to UTA from the 5th Brigade Ranger Challenge at Fort Hood, October 2000, where the Battalion captured 1st and 7th place, respectively, among 20 teams.
This short, informal, draft history is based upon three sources: “The Legacy of the University of Texas at Arlington Corp of Cadets, Post-WWII years onwards” by Esther Wong and input from LTC (Ret) Greg Trnka the last IT commander and MAJ (Ret) Aaron Brown, a 2000 Ranger Challenge Team member. Esther Wong’s paper is on this website’s History page, and she provides extensive footnotes for her information sources.
We welcome additional information and photos of the Insurgent and Ranger Challenge teams and Operational Detachment Maverick.
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