Couple with UW ties competes on “The Amazing Race”

It’s one thing to strategize from the comfort of your living room while watching hit reality show “The Amazing Race.” It’s quite another to be among the globe-trotting contestants.

Major Dave Brown Jr., an assistant professor of military science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his wife, Rachel, will be among 11 couples competing on the 20^th season of the show, which premieres at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 on CBS.

“The anonymity of a name like ‘Dave Brown’ is no longer,” says Brown.

Rachel, a UW–Madison graduate who works at Epic Systems in Verona, had the idea to be on the show. Both have been long-time fans and are adventurous by nature.

Dave, 33, had been deployed to Iraq but had a two-week rest and relaxation leave where he and Rachel, 30, met up in Australia. That’s when she pitched the idea. They filled out the application and crossed their fingers.

“I didn’t have the slightest idea,” Brown says about whether they’d be picked.

The show has won eight Emmy Awards and pits teams against many physical and mental challenges over the course of 25 days.

“I’m very happy that not only we had this opportunity but the opportunity to represent military members,” Dave says. “The overwhelming pride of representing the men and women of the military in the best possible light … that was definitely in the forefront of our minds.”

Dave, a West Salem, Wis., native, enlisted into the Arizona National Guard in 1996 as an artillery forward observer while attending Arizona State University.

He graduated in three years with a bachelor’s degree in political science, transferred into the Wisconsin Guard’s 32^nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in 2000 and earned an officer commission in 2002.

He’s also served as an intelligence officer, a Black Hawk pilot with the 1^st Battalion, 147^th Aviation Regiment and an executive officer for Recruiting and Retention Command. He is currently assigned to the ROTC detachment at UW as an assistant professor of military science.

While “The Amazing Race” presents numerous physical and mental challenges, Dave believes the biggest component is teamwork.

“The icing on the cake is the travel – the challenge is the interaction and relationship between two people,” Dave says.

Being in the military means that Dave and Rachel have had to do many things apart which made the experience of doing the show together all the more meaningful.

“The stress of not only military training but deployment really prepared me,” Dave says.

They can’t say whether they won the $1 million prize but are inviting people to watch the show with them at Madison’s, 119 King St. The party starts at 5:30 p.m.

They’ll have lots of people rooting them on.

“I was extremely excited for them to have such a tremendous opportunity to participate in this unique and challenging experience,” says Lt. Col. Jay Pitz, a professor of military science at the UW.  

Pitz says Dave’s experience in the military will be a huge asset.

“As an Army officer, he has already experienced a multitude of challenges during his distinguished career,” Pitz says. “The leadership attributes that he has developed throughout a career of vast experiences as an Aviation officer and a combat veteran will have prepared him for the unique challenges that may be encountered during the program.”

Dave returned from deployment in June 2011. He and Rachel flew out to Los Angeles to audition but they didn’t find out until four weeks before taping began last fall that they’d been chosen.

 “We were left in considerable suspense,” Dave says.

They were put through a rigorous process of testing.

“It’s as physically demanding as air assault school, as mentally draining and as academically involved as flight school and as sleep depriving as SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) School,” Dave says.

Dave and Rachel have had to be pretty secretive throughout the whole process. Mum is the only word about the outcome of the show.

Stay tuned to see how the Browns do. “The Amazing Race” airs at 7 p.m. Sundays on CBS.