Sandhurst 2010

Harrison was on a special team through ROTC that participated in a competition called Sandhurst that was held at West Point Military Academy in New York. Mom and Dad and Liz Smith were so nice to watch Jack for us so that I could go and watch Harrison compete! (my first time away from Mr. Jack overnight...am I a bad mom if I didn't suffer from baby separation anxiety??) It was such a fun time and BYU did so well! They didn't place as high as they hoped to (they got 4th place last year) but they worked so hard. The course took about 5 hours to complete. This means 5 hours of running, climbing, crawling, and lifting - all with their gear on. It was a 15 mile timed course through forests, water, and mountains. Needless to say, everyone on their team had to be in really good shape. BYU placed first in land navigation - the biggest part of the competition!!

Here is a video of some of their events:

There were 49 teams competing from West Point, other ROTC teams throughout the country and several international teams from Chile, Great Britain, Canada, and Afghanistan. BYU has really made a name for themselves at this competition throughout the years. And this year a British General spoke at the award ceremony and singled out BYU during his speech. He read the 13th Article of Faith and having never even heard of BYU before this competition, he complimented "Brigham Young University for striving to live their life that way..."

The West Point campus was beautiful!!

We took a train into the city the last night in New York and stayed right in Times Square.
So fun!!

Thank you Smiths for watching Jack, and thanks to John and Emily for letting me stay with you at West Point!!