Friday, November 21st, 2008

ROTC teaches life-long skills

KU Army ROTC cadets build their strengths for their future careers and fight for freedoms.

By Haley Jones (Contact)

Monday, October 6th, 2008

The sound of gunshots echoed through the woods of Fort Riley Saturday as KU Army ROTC cadets neared the enemy’s bunker on a field training exercise. But the enemy was only fellow ROTC, the guns were filled with blanks and the grenades were tennis balls.

Aaron Hunter, Topeka sophomore, led his squad of eight cadets to the ridge across from the enemy’s bunker. The only thing stopping them from completing their mission was a small stream — and the pounding inside their chests from the uncertainty of what could happen.

Thick smoke from a smoke bomb appeared in the streambed and wafted up. Hunter had enough cover to cross the stream and approach the bunker from the side, right in the enemy’s blind spot. Covered by his squad firing guns, Hunter dropped to a crawl to get closer to the spray-painted black bunker. When he had reached the outer edge, he reached his arm around the front of the bunker and tossed in a tennis ball.

“Grenade in!” he shouted. The two enemy forces dropped their heads to the ground, signaling defeat.

About 90 Army ROTC cadets gathered at Fort Riley on Friday afternoon for their most intensive field training exercise, FTX, of the semester. The three-day-long FTX puts the Army ROTC underclassmen in real-life situations where they learn critical problem solving and improve their leadership skills from soldiers who have actually served overseas. The ROTC is divided into seven different lanes that funnel into a central location, where the main campsite and base are. Each lane presents the ROTC with different missions that encourage the development of basic skills and actions, like blocking and tackling.

Lt. Colonel John Basso is the battalion commander for the KU Army ROTC. He said the situational training in lanes was a weekly exercise for the KU Army ROTC. Throughout the semester, the cadets spend two hours a week running through smaller lanes on the University’s West Campus and one hour a week in class.

“We do labs — not with Bunsen burners — but still hands-on stuff,” Basso said. “We use this training because we want everyone to be a good soldier and it’s a good way to put people in pressure situations and see how they respond.”

The simulated combat at Fort Riley is a reminder for the cadets of the reality of a war they could fight in after being commissioned as officers. Brian Mills, Leavenworth freshman, said drilling was the only real way to learn how to accomplish a mission and learn common tasks a soldier would face in combat.

“When bullets start flying and people start taking hits, you can’t think,” Mills said. “You’ve just got to have it ingrained in you so you can do what you need to do to survive. If you have to think, you’re a weak link in the chain.”

In the missions, cadets lead squads of eight other cadets. Within the squad, two other cadets lead an alpha team and a bravo team. Two cadre, or training staff, work with each squad member individually to coach them on their strengths and weaknesses during each mission.

Basso said the 14 KU cadre had served a total of 13 combat tours in Iraq or Afghanistan and provided professional leadership training to the cadets. The cadre focused on one or two cadets at a time, giving them personalized feedback so the cadets could become more aware of their capabilities.

“We’ve figured out pretty quickly that the only way you can really teach leadership is primarily one-on-one,” Basso said.

Cadet John Irvine, Leavenworth senior, said the cadre’s first-hand experience overseas helped cadets realize the training missions weren’t just make-believe.

“When cadres say they’ve seen this in action when they were in Iraq it really hits home,” Irvine said. “You’re like, okay, I really need to work on this stuff.”

Tom Ferry, St. Michael, Minn., junior, came to the University to major in business and had not planned on joining the ROTC. But in the middle of his freshman year, Ferry joined a simultaneous membership program with the ROTC and the National Guard because of the college benefits, including possible scholarships and a monthly stipend.

Ferry said he found many aspects of his ROTC training had benefitted him academically and in his search for a business internship. Ferry said cadets ran 95 percent of the Jayhawk Batallion and part of his duties as an upperclassman was to plan the FTX at Fort Riley.

“When employers ask me what I have done where I’ve had to show leadership, I can say, ‘Well, what haven’t I done?’” Ferry said. “‘How about planning three days of meals, training and movement for 100-plus people?’”

The field training incorporated cultural differences by having several of the enemies dressed in middle-eastern garb, but Irvine said that wasn’t the focus.

“It’s not us against them,” Irvine said. “That’s not what the army is. It’s us doing our job. If that’s who it happens to be today, then that’s who it is.”

Ferry said the cadets faced minimal opposition from KU students, because war protests on campus and in Lawrence were usually directed at the war, not at cadets. He said whether or not he agreed with the war didn’t matter.

“You watch every generation before us do their part and go to war,” Ferry said. “And it’s like, you do your part.”

Irvine said he joined the ROTC because he wanted to step up to the plate and serve his country. He said he was defending the rights of all citizens — those who supported the war as much as those who opposed it.

“We’re defending their freedom so they have the right to say that,” Irvine said. “If that’s what they’re going to do, then that’s their choice.”

Ferry said, “First Amendment, right?”

Irvine said, “Right.”

— Edited by Ramsey Cox

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