FORT SILL, Okla. (April 10, 2014) -- Oklahoma's four senior Army ROTC programs came together at Fort Sill for a joint field training exercise April 3-6.
About 150 cadets from Cameron University (CU), University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU), were here for their annual spring JFTX at Camp Eagle.
The exercise emphasized platoon leadership for about 75 cadets, who are juniors or Military Science (MS) 3 students, in preparation for the Leader Development and Assessment Course this summer at Fort Knox, Ky., said Lt. Col. Kevin Nicholas, OSU professor of military science. The LDAC will draw more than 5,000 ROTC cadets from campuses across the nation.
Leaving the Camp Eagle compound, MS3 Tanner Knoch, CU, was one of about 33 cadets in one patrol operation.
"There are a lot of moving pieces to a platoon patrol," said Knoch, a criminal justice major. "It's more than just taking down notes and performing operations orders. You've got to think on your feet and adjust your plan."
The cadets did not just work with their respective classmates, but were intermixed with cadets from all the universities for the platoon training, Nicholas said.
"The students now have new individuals to work with which replicates the same experience they will have this summer," Nicholas said.
Day 1 began with in-processing; task assignments; and weapons issue of M-16 rifles and M-249 machineguns (with blanks); and classroom instruction on the weapons and the handheld radios they would be using. Nicholas said he received very good support from Fort Sill units including G3, Range Operations and the Noncommissioned Officers Academy, which operates Camp Eagle.
Later that day, the MS3 cadets performed day, and night land navigation finding 10 points during the six-hour training.The next two days focused on platoon-level training for 12 hours each day, the lieutenant colonel said.
Capt. Joe McNair, UCO assistant professor of military science, other university cadre and MS4 cadets (seniors) evaluated and mentored the junior cadets as they performed a platoon patrol. A platoon consists of 30 to 40 Soldiers, and is made up of smaller squads, which are led by noncommissioned officers. In this particular scenario, the platoon leader was selecting an ambush site.
"Platoon patrolling gives cadets an opportunity to experience platoon operations, which is what they are going to be doing as future lieutenants," McNair said. "This also mirrors what will be occurring at Fort Knox."
The JFTX was largely executed by MS4 seniors, who went through the exercise last year, said MS4 Cadet 2nd Lt. Lee Johnson, OSU. One of their roles was to evaluate how the MS3 performed.
MS4 Cadet Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Perez, CU, said they evaluate the juniors on a few things.
"We look for flexibility to be able to work through different situations," Perez said. "We also see how well they work with people they never met before, with different ideas that are sometimes conflicting, and see what they can learn from that."
The JFTX allows for more comprehensive training than the two-hour labs the cadets regularly perform on their respective campuses, Johnson said. Over the JFTX, it's a constant process, with little down time.
"The cadets have to be prepared to do their best for four days straight," he said.
The last day of the JFTX was reserved for one-on-one mentoring with the MS3s, said Nicholas. Seniors and cadre reviewed what the cadets excelled at as well as areas that needed to be improved upon.
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