Events & Activities

ROTC Offers Many Opportunities to Excel

In Army ROTC, it’s not all classroom and field training. There are many opportunities for you to get to know your fellow cadets better and increase your skills in a variety of areas. Learn more about these events and activities below.

Ranger Challenge

Ranger Challenge is considered the varsity sport of Army ROTC. Each year, the competition, for 1 st Brigade is held at Devens, MA (a former Army Fort), which is the home for ROTC’s 1st Brigade/ Eastern Region (made up of schools from New England and New York). Those schools, which field a team, provide nine primary members and one alternate, which make up a squad. These squads participate in a series of eight events over the course of the competition weekend. These squads are compiled from the best cadets in each host school’s ROTC Battalion. The events for the competition are the standard APFT, an obstacle course, one rope bridge, a patrolling exam, orienteering course, M16 marksmanship, M16 weapons disassembly/reassembly, concluding with a 10 km ruck march.

Pershing Rifles

Pershing Rifles (P/R) at Boston University is a branch of the National Society of Pershing Rifles, a tri-service, co-ed military honorary society which draws from ROTC units around the country. , Pershing Rifles is built around military proficiency, scholarship, leadership, and a very strong esprit de corps. Potential new members are indoctrinated into B-12 through a challenging Candidate Term which lasts six to nine weeks.  They undertake a rigorous physical training program, consisting of calisthenics, running, and weight training. To ensure that academic success remains a priority, candidates attend study hall moderated by members with past experience in their fields of study.Candidates also learn many new military skills including infantry tactics, land navigation and the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), and Drill & Ceremony. They will participate in a weekend-long Field Exercise modeled on the US Army Special Forces’ ROBIN SAGE exercise, during which they will plan and execute their own small-unit missions in a tactical environment.

To learn more about Boston University’s Pershing Rifles Company please visit: http://b12prs.googlepages.com/

Scabbard and Blade

Scabbard and Blade K-6 Company is driven by the pursuit of excellence.  Our pledge term and our honor society trains cadets to be leaders of the Charles River Battalion through tactics training, personal counseling, and hands-on leadership experience.  Candidates prepare for success in ROTC by improving their Army Physical Fitness scores, mastering tactics, and building their own team to work cohesively.