Photo By Sgt. Andrew J Weston | Candidates from the Officer Candidate School stand outside the church at the Fort...... read more read more
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Officer candidates conducted their final Field Leadership Exercise (FLX) here as they worked toward commissioning as officers in the Army National Guard Aug. 4-6.
The candidates were tasked with putting their 18-months of training into practice as they worked as a unit to capture and secure a fictional town during this culminating event.
The training these candidates are required to go through is designed to test their leadership and decision-making skills. To this end, the cadre put forth time and effort to ensure they had prepared an exercise encapsulating all the training the candidates have completed during Officer Candidate School (OCS).
“We all played a huge part in planning for this Phase Three FLX,” said Sgt. First Class George Kerr, Detachment 1, 166th Regiment, Pennsylvania National Guard, one of the instructors running the FLX.
The field exercise is a culmination of the Operation Order (OPORD) development and Troop Leading Procedures process, as well as basic room clearing and movement through urban terrain, said Kerr.
The effort involved in designing and operating such a tough training exercise has not gone unnoticed, as the participating candidates can attest.
“The cadre are extremely dedicated to making a challenging environment to ensure that decision making is made with sound reasoning and that people take the time to think, even when they’re tired, even when they’re hungry, even when they’ve been marching a lot,” said Officer Candidate Ian Short, a candidate at OCS with the New Hampshire National Guard.
Although the training is designed to put a tremendous amount of stress on the candidates, Officer Candidate AnaLyse Gaspich, of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, found it to be a rewarding experience and an important lesson on working with her fellow soldiers.
“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that you really have to push yourself mentally and physically, but you cannot get through this program without the other people that you’re training with,” said Gaspich.
With her OCS experience, Gaspich found herself to be more confident with the prospect of leading other soldiers.
“A lot of the benefits I have gotten [from this training] are really focusing on that OPORD,” said Gaspich. “I feel super confident being able to brief in front of others and actually conduct a mission.”
With the FLX behind them, the candidates appear to have fully embraced the core lessons the cadre have implemented when designing the course. Having graduated on Aug. 8, these junior leaders are taking what they have learned back to their home units as second lieutenants.
“I hope they take away everything we’re trying to instill in them here: leadership, adaptability, resiliency, and just basic soldiering skills that we’re teaching them,” said Kerr.
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.15.2020 14:33 |
| Story ID: | 376079 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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