ROTC trains for real-life scenarios

On Nov. 13 and 14, the U.S. Army Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University of West Florida spent the weekend at Camp Rudder for their Field Training Exercise (FTX).

The weekend consisted of day and night land navigation, sleeping on the ground and simulated field training exercises. These activities involved a lot of training for college students.

“I am excited about the land navigation today,” freshman cadet John Long said. “It is a chance for me to hone my skills.”

For some of the freshman in the program, this was their first FTX and land navigation troubled some.

“Before this, I had no idea how to do land navigation,” freshman Zack Wilkins said.

Each cadet is given a set of coordinates and required to map out and navigate to each point within the allotted time. At night, the task becomes more difficult, as the students must accomplish the training alone and in the dark.

“I think night is more fun than day, but it presents more difficulty,” Wilkins said.

For the juniors in the program, this weekend is specifically training and preparing them for a long summer at Leadership Development and Assessment Camp (LDAC). At this camp, they will be tested in everything they have learned over their ROTC career.

“Here and at LDAC, the cadets will be put in simulated combat situations in order to evaluate their leadership ability,” Griffin Bird, senior cadet, said.

Bird, along with the other seniors in the program, went to LDAC last summer. They are now in charge of the training operations for the rest of the ROTC unit.

On Saturday, the sophomores and juniors went through simulations of combat roles where they were broken up into squads to accomplish a mission for the training exercise. The training consisted of an ambush, attack, recon and a variable exercise.

“They want us to be like an infantry squad, that is how they gage your leadership- in high stress areas,” David Bell, junior cadet, said.

In each training exercise, one of the junior cadets would become the squad leader and will lead the two team leaders and the rest of the squad in order to accomplish the mission.

“In war not everything goes as planned,” Bird said. “When they screw up here it is a great learning experience.”

During the variable exercise, the squad leader is told to take out a series of bunkers, but then while maneuvering toward the site, he receives a change in orders.

“This is a difficult scenario, a lot like what they will experience at LDAC,” Bird said. “Catching problems and making improvements is the entire purpose of this operation.”

Each training exercise helps to develop leadership skills and confidence in the cadets. The weekend helped the students learn a lot about the specific obstacles found during a combat situation.

“This is the first step, they have to crawl, then walk, then run before they get to LDAC,” Master Sgt. John DeBusk, the senior military instructor, said. “When they do get to LDAC they won’t even recognize themselves.”