FORT SILL, Okla. (Sept. 24, 2015) -- About 50 Cameron University Army ROTC cadets were at Fort Sill Sept. 18-19, for their fall Leadership Training Exercise (LTX) learning rifle marksmanship, land navigation, tactical operations and teambuilding skills.
Senior cadets did much of the LTX planning, and guided junior cadets through the training to help develop their leadership skills. The cadets ranged from freshmen to seniors.
"The exercise puts cadets in leadership positions that they haven't done," said Jamel Holt, Cadet Battalion commander. "They have to do everything from ensuring their battle buddies are taken care of to planning and executing operations."
The leadership positions they filled included, battery commander, first sergeant, platoon sergeant and platoon leader.
MS4 Cadet Jasmine Schultz served as a platoon sergeant during the exercise. She said the experience was professionally edifying.
"I gained a greater understand of what type of role the platoon leader has during the training of subordinates, and also the importance of accountability," said Schultz in an email interview. "Maintaining accountability of personnel and equipment is very important as a leader and that importance was demonstrated over this weekend."
Staging at Contingency Operations Location (COL) Murphy, the "Comanche Battalion" cadets were broken into groups. Some began land navigation training at the Potato Hill Observation Site. There they had to find four points within a time standard.
Groups of four to five cadets literally went over-hill, over-dale as they negotiated terrain where they waded through waist-high grass, over flat, barren land, down ravines and climbing up small hills for observation points.
This was the first time many of the freshmen and sophomores have had to take a compass and to read a military map to figure which direction and how far to go to get to a point, said Capt. Neal Wheeler, CU ROTC operations officer.
In each group a couple senior cadets known as Military Science 4 (MS4), advised junior cadets when they ran into difficulties, had questions or were disoriented.
"A lot of that is for safety to ensure the junior cadets don't get lost or injured," Wheeler said.
Wheeler added that many people think ROTC is just about creating officers for the military, but it is more than that.
"It's about teaching leadership, whether they become a lieutenant or not, they learn the skills to lead no matter what they choose to do," the captain said.
At Engagement Skills Trainer 3, instructor/operators Jaime Carrejo and Ulysses Mays taught about using the electronic modified-M16 rifle in preparation for basic rifle marksmanship.
"Take a deep breath, release it, pause, then pull the trigger and stop pulling it when you hear the click," said Carrejo, who is a retired infantry Soldier.
On Day 1, things went great for the cadets, said MS4 Cadet Gregory Mendez, who served as the LTX public affairs officer.
"The cadets are highly motivated and excited to be at Fort Sill for the training," Mendez said.
Day 2 involved a long road march, followed by tactical movements with platoons of cadets contacting enemy forces, as well as teambuilding drills.
"We will be physically fatigued, but we'll still have to push through to accomplish the mission," said Holt, who will graduate in May.
Holt acknowledged the partnership between CU and the post.
"Fort Sill has been a great help to us, and the 434th [Field Artillery Brigade] has allowed us to use their facilities," the cadet commander said.
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