FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY (Feb. 3, 2015) -- Army ROTC Cadre from across the country convened at Fort Knox last week for the 2015 Cadet Summer Training (CST) planning meeting.
The five-day event focused on planning and coordination for the largest training event in the Army that will take place here from June 3 to Aug. 16.
Three hundred participants reviewed the CST operating procedures, the Master Training Reference, and Regimental training schedules to capture the intent of the commanding general. Members of various training committees and regimental staff also coordinated with Range Control and conducted recons of their training areas, while CST staff sections met to iron out the details necessary to support the 14,000 Soldiers and Cadets who'll cycle through Fort Knox over the hundred-day period.
The first elements of the support staff and trainers arrive on May 1.
Maj. Gen. Peggy Combs, commander of U.S. Army Cadet Command, opened the meeting on Jan. 26, and challenged the delegates to be as "physically fit and mentally ready" as the Cadets who'll come here to train. She also paid tribute to the "pick-up team of officers and NCOs who give up their summers to accomplish this mission."
ROTC Cadre will arrive throughout the month of May for CST just as their school year ends. An advance party sets up on May 1, and CST will last through Aug. 16. Cadet Command expects 9,500 Cadets to go through the training, with approximately 4,500 cadre and staff supporting them, according to Capt. Carneen Cotton of Cadet Command's Directorate of Leader Development and Education.
Last year, Cadre (Army ROTC staff, FORSCOM and USAR support Soldiers, and Army civilians) supported 7,500 Cadets who trained here. That force utilized more than 15,000 acres of training area, expended almost $9 million in contract services and purchases, and consumed more than a million meals in dining facilities and in the field.
This will be the second year that what used to be known as both the "Leader Training Course" (LTC) and "Leader Development and Assessment Course " (LDAC) summer training have taken place at Fort Knox -- the former has been here for many years, and the latter debuted at Knox after many years at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Starting this summer, Cadet Initial Entry Training (CIET) replaces LTC as a 30-day outcome-driven training event that trains and educates Cadets on select, basic military skills from individual tasks to squad level, and continues to build a foundation to establish the critical thinking skills necessary to become An Army officer. CIET will have a maximum load of 2,580 Cadets in 2015, 1,000 lateral entry Cadets and 1580 scholarship Cadets, divided among nine regiments. In FY15, 960 MS III Cadets will receive direct leadership development experience by serving in company-level cadre positions as squad leaders, platoon sergeants and platoon leaders with officer and NCO cadre as mentors.
Replacing LDAC, Cadet Leader Course (CLC) is a 30-day summer training event focused on solving complex problems at the company-level. Cadets will arrive at CLC with a baseline of military skill sets, and will have developed critical thinking and problem-solving abilities during the academic years. CLC builds upon work accomplished on campus and develops the Cadet's small unit leadership ability in a tactical environment. The leadership experience supports continued Cadet development during the MS IV year.
The CST "footprint" is in the Disney Barracks area of Fort Knox, where tank crewmen and cavalry scouts were quartered before the Armor School's move to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2011. The transfer of more than 7,500 Soldiers and 500,000 pieces of equipment was part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure initiative.
Cadre are organized into various committees to instruct land navigation, physical readiness, cross-cultural competencies, marksmanship, first aid, CBRN, confidence course, and tactics to the Cadets during the month-long cycle. Staff sections and regimental headquarters are comprised of ROTC instructors and civilians, Cadet Command staff, and Army Reserve and Medical Command augmentees. Key personnel from last week's meeting will return for a Terrain Walk, March 2-6.
Col. Brian Mennes, Deputy Commanding Officer of Cadet Command, will serve as the CST Commander. He also spoke at opening day of the meeting.
" Help us identify the cadre requirements. We want to make sure there aren't any conflicts of responsibility, and that we get the numbers right in terms of oversight and individual coaching and mentoring," Mennes said.
He also challenged cadre to "come prepared, and that means physically fit, too."
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