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Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_05.09.08 - Index

MAY 9, 2008 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 15A
Liberty grad is best of the Rangers
by Rick Lemyre
Staff Writer
In 2001, Michael Broussard was a
skinny kid who scrambled for playing time
on the football team, went to the wrong
parties and barely passed enough classes to
graduate from Liberty High School.
That Michael Broussard, however,
might have a tough time recognizing the
man who returned to the campus this week.
Clad in the forest green dress uniform of
the Army Rangers, Staff Sgt. Broussard
stood before students as a veteran of two
deployments to Iraq, two more to Afghanistan,
and the newly crowned winner of the
Army’s Best Ranger Competition.
The competition, which wound up on
April 21, pitted 29 two-man teams against
each other in events designed to test toughness,
combat skill, competence and commitment.
Broussard’s partner was Staff Sgt.
Shayne Cherry of Tennessee. The grueling
three-day event provided no scheduled rest
for the Rangers, and required them to don
combat fatigues and 60 pounds of gear,
climb a 60-foot-high rope net and crawl
through a watery pit along a 3.8-mile obstacle
course – in near-freezing temperatures.
They also parachuted out of a Black
Hawk helicopter to hit a target on the
ground, competed in various marksmanship
and casualty evacuation events, and
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made the dreaded “foot march,” a nighttime
trek of unknown distance that lasts
until the early morning and has been known
to eliminate many from the competition.
And that’s just the fi rst day.
“The competition is recognized as a
world-class event,” Sgt. Jonathon Adams
told the students as he introduced Broussard.
“This man is one of the most elite soldiers
in the U.S. military.”
The soft-spoken Broussard, 25, talked
briefl y about his life at Liberty and the
profound changes he underwent after joining
the Army. He described the rigorous
training all Rangers go through, a regimen
designed “to get you to quit,” he said. It’s
Darwinian theory at its fi nest, he said, adding,
“If you’re not performing up to par, we
don’t need you.” Less than 30 percent of the
people who try to become Rangers actually
make it.
Students then peppered Broussard
with questions, one of the fi rst of which
was “Who was the teacher who helped you
the most while you were here?”
His unhesitating response, “Mrs.
(Rhonda) Snover,” was roundly cheered,
and a messenger was sent to fetch the stillactive
Snover from her classroom for a tearand-smile-fi
lled reunion.
In answer to other questions, Broussard
told students not to worry about
popularity because “all that disappears the
second you graduate.” He said he thinks it’s
harder on a soldier’s family – such as his
wife, Jessica – than on soldiers when they’re
away, and that training (which one person
had referred to as “brainwashing”) was in
reality just the “active adoption of a chosen
lifestyle. You learn what being a man is
all about, you get to see different leadership
styles, and pick what you want.”
Between classes, as he walked to the PE
coach’s room for a break, Broussard said
he thinks his life at Liberty, including trying
to get playing time as a 6-foot, 1-inch,
140-pound “beanpole,” helped him develop
the tenacity that has served him so well as a
Ranger. He also credited Snover with helping
him get through school.
“She pulled me aside and told me, ‘You
need to wake up,’” he recalled.
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Photo by Columbus Ledger-Enquirer photographer Shannon Szwarc
Staff Sgt. Michael Broussard, the winner of the Army’s 2008 Best Ranger competition,
shows Liberty students the margin by which he graduated from the high
school in 2001.
Snover said she rememberd Broussard
as a “deep thinker” and said she still has an
essay he wrote. “I’m incredibly proud of
him, but I’m not surprised,” she said.
Broussard was scheduled to visit other
area schools and take some time off before
returning to his base at Ft. Benning,
Ga. Between tours overseas, the former
high-schooler-in-need-of-a-wake-up-call is
about 18 months from attaining a master’s
degree, which he will apply in his career as a
physician’s assistant.
Broussard will attend the Brentwood
City Council meeting next Tuesday to be
honored by the city, and other offi cial commendations
are in the works.
To comment on this story, visit www.
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