Photo By Trisha E Pinczes | Cadets search a captured hostile during an ambush training lane as part of a four day...... read more read more
CAMP GUERNSEY JOINT TRAINING CENTER, Wyo. – Reserve Officer Training Corps programs from the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, Wyoming, and Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado, joined forces for a four-day field training exercise in Guernsey, April 24.
Cadets from freshmen to seniors involved in the ROTC program participated in exercises where they were tested both physically and mentally.
“We are conducting several different events to prepare our cadets for becoming future officers,” explained cadet Scott Martin, the cadet battalion executive officer for CSU. “Some tactical exercises, the juniors will be put in leadership positions for and asked to take an order, turn it around and conduct a mission on the objective.”
Being a leader is often about not only coming up with a plan, but also adjusting it as changes occur, something not found in a classroom.
“We’ve had to be flexible and adaptive with our timeline to make sure that we meet the standard for our training but also fit it into the time that we have here for the event,” Martin said. “It puts a little bit of stress on them so they have to prioritize and use whatever skills they have and resources available to just do it the best way they can. It helps to create adaptive leaders in the Army.”
Martin was able to experience different roles each year as he moved through his journey in the ROTC program from a freshman all the way up to a senior.
“You learn the ability to work with others and be a team player, and do the best that you can in whatever position you’re in,” he said. “If I’m a team member, I am being the best team member I can be, and if I’m a team leader, I’m being the best team leader I can be.”
While the upperclassmen benefited from first-hand experience in a leadership role, the underclassmen had something to gain as well.
“It really gives the underclassmen the chance to experience a training environment, which is at a high operational tempo that they don’t usually get on campus,” he said. “It really gives them a chance to test themselves and gain some confidence in their ability to endure hardships they are probably not used to and learn a lot of skills they have probably never experienced.”
Freshman Cadet Dillon Mount, from CSU, explained the benefits from observing the juniors lead his platoon in a tactical lane exercise.
“We just conducted an ambush lane that didn’t go the best, but we continued the mission and did what we were supposed to,” Mount said. “In the real Army, intangibles happen all the time that you can’t control and by doing this and finding out what it could be like is a very good learning experience.”
The benefits of watching and participating as a team member lead many of the cadets to success when they are placed in the leadership roles.
“The opportunity to watch the juniors learn about conducting planning phases is really good insight for the future,” he said. “It helps us become better leaders when we actually get there.”
The ROTC programs hold the field training exercise annually as a way to slowly build strong leaders.
“It definitely helps because you get to learn about platoon cohesion, developing yourself as a squad leader, and as a team leader instead of just going to camp and ‘hey I’m a lieutenant now,’” said Mount.
Pulling two universities together requires a lot of coordination and cooperation for planning and participating.
“It’s really hard because cohesion takes a while to build up so you don’t just hit the ground running,” Mount said. “If you are practiced, things can get done a lot faster, but by having people that don’t know each other get together, it helps develop us better and it helps make us think better too.”
Working in a joint environment gives cadets a unique experience that they otherwise might not have seen until commissioned.
“We always have a lot of really good training and because we have so many cadets coming together from the two universities, it really allows you to have full elements and conduct a lot of cool operations,” Martin said. “This is a great opportunity to test our skills as leaders, to be adaptive and interact with people we don’t know, and to come together and accomplish the same goal.”
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2014 17:31 |
| Story ID: | 135447 |
| Location: | CAMP GUERNSEY, WYOMING, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ROTC programs team up for a field training exercise, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
