EDINBURGH, Ind. -- Warrant Officer Candidates from the 138th Regional Training Institute at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, spent their Saturday assisting with historical preservation at the Camp Atterbury Museum. The museum serves the public as a free historical display of artifacts, papers, and photographs from the past eighty plus years offering education to inspire and connect Hoosier communities to their local base.
The museum is arranged on a historical timeline that takes the visitor on a journey through pre-acquisition, construction, activation, unit training and finally, Camp Atterbury today.
“Our community project gives us an opportunity to give back to the community that supports us,” said Warrant Officer Candidate (WOC) Michael Martin of Indianapolis, the candidate leader of class 23-901. “We are cleaning up the museum to ensure the public has a place to come and learn that Camp Atterbury is much more than the fences and barb wire seen from the streets.”
The Warrant Officer Candidate School requires each class to identify, plan and successfully execute a community project as a culminating event. Class 23-901 worked with museum staff and Camp Atterbury Veterans Memorial Association board members to identify ways that they could support the museum by cleaning and preserving rich historical documentation and artifacts that are the foundation of Camp Atterbury.
“Community service is so important,” continued Martin. “Without support from the community we serve each day our task would become much more difficult.”
Many warrant officers are recruited from the enlisted ranks. Typically, warrant officer candidates are the leaders among their peers with a willingness to continue learning. Each candidate comes from a unique background and a variety of skillsets.
“I transitioned to Warrant to reach more soldiers for mentorship and help build their technical abilities,” Said Candidate Stanley Crain, former electronics maintenance supervisor from Speedway, Ind. “I want to advocate for soldiers and help them be able to do their jobs the best that they can.”
With over 25 years of experience and service to his nation, Crain is exactly what one might expect to see out of the warrant officer corps. However, strength through diversity is a very real concept we see demonstrated daily in the Indiana National Guard. Alongside Crain is a classmate with 24 years less experience.
“I joined through a program they call street to seat,” shared Candidate Kyle Buchanan from Shipshewana, Ind. “I boarded as a civilian and will be allotted the opportunity to go to flight school if I pass all the prerequisite requirements.”
Each Candidate had a life and career before this course that has influenced the skills and habits they bring to the team. Throughout the training each candidate had to learn how to be part of a team and provide leadership through service.
“The class has been challenging and stressful, we had no choice but to come together as a team despite our various backgrounds and experiences,” Martin concludes. “Everybody has their role and we had to learn to lean on each other.”
The community project preserving history at the Camp Atterbury Museum allowed these new officer candidates to hone their leadership abilities and come together as a team.
The Camp Atterbury Museum is located outside the front gate in the Welcome Center. The museum can accommodate individuals as well as large groups, tours, student groups and features disabled access.
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2023 16:09 |
| Story ID: | 441288 |
| Location: | IN, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Warrant Candidates Preserve history, by SSG Tackora Farrington, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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