Photo By Sgt. Matthew Lucibello | Connecticut Army National Guard Spc. Donovan Rampassard, a motor transport operator...... read more read more
HARTFORD, Conn. — “A lot of cardio,” that’s how Connecticut Army National Guard Spc. Donovan Rampassard, a motor transport operator with the 1048th Transportation Company (Medium), describes losing 45 pounds over the course of two months to enlist into the National Guard.
Rampassard joined Connecticut’s Home Team in May 2021. His career in military service started out practically on a whim. Originally, Rampassard had aspirations to further his education after graduating from East Hartford High School in 2020, to go to college, and graduate with a degree. Almost immediately after starting his Uconn spring semester online classes, he realized he wanted to do anything else.
“I just really couldn’t do it,” he said.
About a year later, Rampassard would accompany one of his friends, Jamel Brown, as he enlisted into the Connecticut Army National Guard. After sitting down and talking to one of the recruiters, Staff Sgt. John Franco, about some of the Guard’s benefits, including the VA Home Loan Program, Rampassard decided to give the Guard a shot.
“I went there with my friend and [Franco] was like why don’t you join,” said Rampassard. “I had no reason not to. I just dropped out of college. I had no plan, so I was like, why, not?”
Unfortunately for Rampassard, joining would not be as simple as taking the ASVAB, picking his career, taking the Oath of Enlistment and shipping off to Basic training like many expect. Rampassard was overweight and therefore ineligible to enlist. In order to ship out to basic training he would need to lose weight. Franco took Rampassard under his wing and developed a training regimen to get him in line with the Army’s body weight standards.
Soon after that, Franco, Rampassard, and Brown, would meet up at the riverfront in East Hartford three times a week and run three miles together. In addition to conducting physical fitness training to address the immediate issue of Rampassard losing weight, Franco also took steps to be proactive and prevent Rampassard from potentially gaining weight again in the future by teaching how nutrition can impact one’s fitness and overall health.
“At this point I wasn’t in the Army, I hadn’t signed the contract,” explained Rampassard. “At this point I wasn’t in the Army, I hadn’t signed the contract. He showed me the camaraderie. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, [but] I wanted to surround myself with positive people, people that will see each other get better, a good community. Franco … he started me off with that.”
Within two months, Rampassard went from being 262 pounds to 217 pounds.
He shipped out to Fort Jackson for Basic Training on October 10, 2021. Following his training there, Rampassard began his Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, specialized training that teaches soldiers the duties of their selected occupation, at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in January 2022. There, he learned how to manage, operate, load and unload wheeled tactical vehicles to transport troops and supplies.
After graduating from AIT on March 4, 2022, Rampassard returned back to Connecticut and was briefly assigned to the Recruit Sustainment Program, or RSP, for three months to prepare him to fall into his permanent unit, the 1048th Transportation Company (Medium) stationed in Enfield. Things were fairly routine after joining his unit, until he unexpectedly fell ill while at Fort Drum, New York, during his unit’s Annual Training period, or AT. An infection built up in his throat, which created a blockage that required him to be admitted to Samaritan Medical Center to have surgery on August 22, 2022.
“It was gradual,” explained Rampassard. “At first I felt pain in my throat. I thought it was strep throat and felt that in a few days it would get better. For two to three days I didn’t eat and did barely any drinking. It was so painful. [The hospital staff] told me if I had waited one more day I wouldn’t have been able to breathe and I could have died.”
This complication would turn out to have lasting negative effects for Rampassard. During his time recovering, he began falling back into his previous bad habits. Slowly but surely, he began gaining weight once more. This eventually spiraled to the point that he failed his height and weight screening, resulting in him receiving an administrative flag. Flags such as these stop a soldier from being able to receive favorable actions like participating in additional military schooling, receiving awards, can bar a soldier from re-enlisting and, if enough flags accumulate, can be the cause for separation from military service.
Rampassard was at a crossroads. He could continue to go down the path he was set on, start working out on his own, or, at the strong recommendation of his unit, enroll in the Connecticut National Guard’s Fitness Improvement Program, or FIP.
FIP is designed to help Connecticut National Guardsmen lose weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle. The program offers courses designed to curb weight gain, improve one’s diet and nutrition and also aims to improve the overall morale and welfare of its members.
After some serious consideration and self-reflection, Rampassard decided he needed a helping hand and enrolled in the program. Rampassard attended the initial class which was held between May 15 and May 26, 2023. At the time he was 242 pounds.
Here, Rampassard and his fellow classmates fell under the mentorship of program leaders, Connecticut Army National Guard 1st Lt. Jeremy Slen, Staff Sgt. Ashton Christoper and Staff Staff Isaac Rodriguez. They spent the next four months training together, at first through two full weeks of training in the first month, followed thereafter by followup drills for the next three months.
“Going through and learning, I thought I knew everything, I really didn’t,” said Rampassard. “They taught a lot. And, seeing actual progress, that changed my mind on that. I lost like three or four pounds [initially] and I was like, wow, this actually works. Everyone in my entire class did better in every category.”
By the end of his time in the program, Rampassard weighed approximately 208 pounds, which according to him, is “the lightest I have ever been.” Additionally, later on Oct. 22, 2023, during his Army Combat Fitness Test, a graduation requirement at the end of the Fitness Improvement Program, Rampassard scored 578 out of 600 points.
Since his time in FIP, Rampassard has passed all his height and weight screenings, his flag has since been removed. He has also gone on to represent his unit, and himself, at the 2024 Connecticut Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition, where he earned the Norwegian Foot March badge.
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2024 16:08 |
| Story ID: | 470861 |
| Location: | HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 362 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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