Member’s of RMC’s Military Skills Team have departed to West Point Military Academy to participate in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition, which takes place on April 29th and 30th. The event features teams from West Point, Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) units across the US and 16 international teams from across the globe.
Leading up to the competition, RMC’s Commandant, Commodore Josée Kurtz, and the College Chief Warrant Officer, CWO Lucie Alain, visited the RMC Military Skills Team to observe cadets as they prepared for the event. According to RMC’s Public Affairs, the team demonstrated various aspects of the competition, including completing RMC’s eleven foot wall, a rope bridge, and a simulated casualty event.
Recruitment for the RMC Military Skills Team is extremely selective and involves testing N/OCdts for physical fitness, endurance, mental fortitude and perseverance. Less than twenty cadets are chosen once the selection process is complete.
The Royal Military College of Canada has won the competition five times in the past, including in 2016, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005. For the first time, Royal Military College St. Jean will be joining the competition at West Point. This comes after RMC St. Jean received independent university status in 2021.
The team is led by Squad Leader Zachary Smith and comprised of Devin Mercer, Layden Bergerman-Twan, Marc-Émile Cloutier, Samuel Fortin, Konrad Kasztenny, Emmanuelle Nadeau, Alex-Xavier Rioux-Turgeon, Megan Roy, Owen Sikkes, Josh Tremblay, Duncan Matthews, Aaron Hauck, Amy Simard, Eloise de Grandpré, Frank Sullivan, Noah Anderson.