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February K, I9GH • I HE MERCER CLUSTER
R.O.T.C. ON THE MOVE
ANNUAL ROTC
MILITARY BALL
1- rnl.iv nirti! '.iw -unc ‘Ji'O peo
(ill- iitend tin Nineteenth Annual
t; (> I (Miii(ar\ Ii.il! hi'ld at tile
■' Mtl'1'rS (. lull, Rlihlll' Al'B.
riir main event <>! the evening
wav the announeeinent of the new
111 (. 111 ion sponsor for this year. Miss
Diane Ifeppner, las! year’s sponsor,
and David Hudson, l.t. Col. of the
Isitallion. mad ' the presentation to
Miss Ann Stanford. Members in
her .court include: Sandra Rich,
Nancy Williams. Claudia Young,
and Susan Wiseman.
I hi i\cning In c in with dancing
.ad nil'll pinv ided by the Ciinti-
i.i nt.il ,,\ir ( nrnniaiiil band, The in-
|i ri"ii"inii progr.mi NIC d by Hd
If c <11. it el tie pli si Mt.it mu of tile
Merer Dill Tim in vv ho formed the
-.li re .ir■ t; i •r tin '.Senior and Spun-
-or lead out All the Si lnors and
.Sponsor' were jntroduicd to the
guests in preparation tor the even
ings mam events.
Immediately following the pre
sentation of the ltatallion Sponsor,
(lie most solemn part of the pro
gram began. < adi t Captain William
1) Wehunt led the installation of
new members into Scabbard and
Hindu. Tin' National Society of
Scabbard and Blade is an honorary
military fraternity established to
recognize outstanding achievement
by ROTC Cadets.
Tapped for membership were
Seniors: Roger R. Anderburg,
Charles D. Bailey, Guy R. Gunn,
and William I. Toler. Juniors tap
ped' James T Armstrong. James I
E. Bacon. Gary R Brenner, Mi
ehael T. Crook, John W. Crowley,
Donald S Hartley, William L.
Jackson, Roliert D Newell, Dennis
C. Sanders, and George L. Philips.
Regular Army Captain John D
Guthrie was also tipped into the so
ciety.
A special presentation and tap
ping was made to Regular Army
Major Jimmy B. i?loan. Major
Sloan was riled as contributing the
most to the development of the
ROTC department at Mercer dur
ing his stay here over the past 18
months. Major Sloan will be leav
ing Mercer this week for duty in
Southeast Asia
Mercer Rifle Team
Shoots To Win Feb. 10
With a current record of 4 wins and 2 losses, the MER» El
ROTC RIFLE TEAM is taking dead aim at a win in a thru
way match to he fired here Feb. It)
C o m p e t
ing against Mer
cer in the match
that will liegin
at 9:00 AM on
ROTC rifle
range will lx- ri
flemen from
Florida South
ern and Auburn
Universities.
It was at the
hands of Auburn
that Mercer suf
fered its’ most
recent, but mar
ginal, defeat in
a match tliat
ended with a to
tal score of 1267
for the Auburn
team and 1256
for Mercer.
S i x mutches
into the season,
and with 6
matches yet to
be fired, Coach
Master Sergeant
Britton reports
that the highest
individual scores
have thus far
been consistent
ly turned In by Cadets Jackson and Holsenbeck, followed by Mm
Cooper, and Clements
Mercer's Marauders ■■
h\ Don Van liushirh
( pun , ntel-inn tins school iit the hill of 19B(i this writer
heard mam ueroj>ntory remarks made about'a certain portion
of the RO M program here. The company of ROTC students
known oitnially as the Marauders were termed by many,
"Micki \ Mouse," and seemed to he regarded by most people
on the campus as the biggest joke ol the already laughable
!’(>TC department
I p until the weekend of January l 'troll across a waterfall, on a three
19th, tins writer might have agreed: rope bridge, that is, a bridge madi
with tIni'i• making -in b comments
However, alter two and one-hall
dav' on maneuvers with the Nla
raudi rs, vou will hear only praise
trom till' direction.
(In Friday, January lit, we left
tor the Mountain Ranger Training
bv stretching three ropes across
fii>m one side of the waterfall in a
| triangular type construction.
Then after eating a delu ious
I luni h of (' rations (hardly a gour-
! mot's clioiee of food), they were
| briefed on a patrol that ttn v were
Camp of the Army for a taste of i to carry out that night, and told
'nine of the training that the Arniv ! to plan their cour'c of action them-
give- its Rangers in the North | selves. The afternoon was spent
Gi urgia Mountains Saturday) planning the maneuver, getting
morning, the Marauder' started I their positions in the patrol as
things olf by doing what, in innun- signed, and gatlu ring rheiking
t.uneering terms, is known as rep- ' equipment.
polling off of a spuially set up j After a hearty dinner, the patrol
t.iee To put that m laymen's terms. | received final instructions and
t In v U'i d ropes to get from the top rtiade last-minute preparations for
ol a tlurtv two foot drop to the I their mission. At b 00 pan., patrol
bottom ot it They couldn't slide leader Stevenson led his men action, this writer feels that Mer
down the rope either, they had to! toward their objective. This writer] cer has plenty to be proud of in
' walk down it with tin aid of (In t ai i ompanii'it them every grueling ] thrm. The Marauders are a well
n.pi s j step of the wav Our objective was | trained, highly efficient and effee-
I "Mowing thi' warming up exer- ; at the top of a mountain that was five, and hard working group, and
.'i these men took a leisurely about five miles distance from our I deserve to be commended.
base camp. Marching continuously
for three and one-half hours over
some of the most rugged country
tnis writer lias ever seen (and that
iin ludi's the Rocky Mountains),
through some very dense under
brush, and finally up a steep, icy
slope, wi* reached our objective
having encountered very little re
sistance from the opposing forces.
The patrol then proceeded under
a new patrol leader. Cadet Roeker,
to take the enemy position without
casualty, we proceeded back to-
vard the Ranger Camp. The way
hack to camp was worse than the
route taken to our objective After
descending to a creek which led to
a river flowing by the Ranger
camp, we fought our way for four
tortuous hours through briars and
close underbrush. At six-thirtv
a.m., we marched into the Ranger
camp. AI! of us were exhausted, in
cluding our observers who were
Regular Army Rangers. The Ma
rauders then had to fix a survival
breakfast, which entailed killing,
cleaning, and looking chickens.
The Marauders weren't the only
ones going through this week-end
course, the ROTC department of
the University of Georgia also had
a contingent there who did every
thing that the Marauders had to
do According to the Ranger Cap
tain who accompanied the Marau
ders on patrol, the Mercer crew far
outshown the It of Gil's ROTC
group.
After having seen these men in