Photo By Sgt. Alan Prince | Cadet Mekayla Korpinen of San Diego, California spends Cadet Troop Leader Training...... read more read more
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For some college students, the summer between their junior and senior years, is spent gaining on-the-job experience through internships or studying abroad. For San Diego native Mekayla Korpinen, studying abroad takes on an whole new meaning. Korpinen is spending 28 days, from May 29 through June 23, 2018, in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania, training with Delta Troop, Regimental Engineering Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment. The engineering squadron's primary responsibility is to operate the unmanned aerial system in support of Saber Strike 18, a longstanding U.S. Army Europe-led cooperative exercise designed to enhance interoperability among allies and regional partners.
Cadet Mekayla Korpinen, no stranger to military life, is a daughter to a Marine Corps officer (father) and former Navy corpsman (mother). As an incoming senior Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, part of her educational requirement is to spend time shadowing a 1st Lt. or 2nd Lt. to gain real-world experience prior to graduation.
"I was recommended for West Point by a Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps instructor who saw how well I performed. At the time, I did not know what West Point was so I had to look it up," said Korpinen. "I found that West Point stands for duty, honor, and country. Coming from a military household, I wanted to continue to carry on the tradition of defending those values."
While studying at West Point, Cadets are graded on military leadership skills, academics and participation in competitive athletics. Each July approximately 1,300 Cadets will begin their journey to becoming a West Point commissioned officer, but with very little down time and high standards, less than 1,000 will make it to graduation. In addition to the stress, Korpinen had her own battles to fight with the passing of two of her close friends during her second year. Cadet Mitch Winey, died in a training accident at Fort Hood, Texas in June 2016, and Cadet Tom Surdyke, died heroically saving the life of a drowning civilian in June 2016. Despite these difficult losses, Korpinen remained focused on remaining at the top of her class, which led her to cadet leadership time with the Delta Troop.
"I'm here at Saber Strike 18 completing one of my graduation requirements called CTLT, or Cadet Troop Leader Training, where we work alongside either a 1st or 2nd Lt. to see what it's like in the job field that we are most interested in," stated Korpinen.
The CTLT program presented Korpinen with the perfect chance to explore her passion to join the military intelligence community by embedding with Delta Troop. The program also provided her the unique opportunity to take charge of missions such as convoy command, coordinating access to airspace with partner nations and learning the unmanned aerial systems operations at Saber Strike 18. Acting as a convoy commander from Delta Troop's trip from Germany to Poland, Korpinen was successful in route coordination, emergency situation response and making sure each soldier arrives at the destination safely. Once in Poland, she was able to attend a multi-national air space brief, to establish coordination between countries that will be flying, what they will be flying, and when they will be in the air. This briefing allowed Delta Troop to start launching their UAS as quickly as possible. During her time with Delta Troop, Korpinen has been able to learn the maintenance, operation and functions of the AAI RQ-7 "Shadow" unmanned aerial vehicle even getting to launch the UAS multiple times.
Korpinen's continued success with Delta Troop at Saber Strike 18, is a testament to her commitment to the U.S. Army and West Point's values of duty, honor, and country, as well as to West Point's trying curriculum for the cadets who make it this far through a challenging journey.
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2018 04:45 |
| Story ID: | 280045 |
| Location: | BEMOWO PISKIE, PL |
| Hometown: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,913 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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