FORT SILL, Okla., April 20, 2017 -- The 95th Adjutant General Battalion (Reception) holds its training meeting every two weeks to plan upcoming instruction, to evaluate recent training events, and to cover administrative notes. The battery commanders, senior enlisted Soldiers, chaplain and administrative and operation officers all report to the battalion commander about their respective sections.
The April 13 meeting was unique because the participants met at Cameron University's Burch Hall with more than a dozen Army ROTC senior cadets observing the 75-minute proceedings. The cadets were free to ask questions during the unclassified meeting.
Afterward, Lt. Col. Miles Gengler, 95th AG Battalion commander, opened it up for a question-and-answer session for pretty much anything about the Army. And, cadets were also able to meet one-on-one with the battalion staff members.
Gengler told the cadets the training meeting was typical of a Training and Doctrine Command unit, whereas at an operational unit there would be more discussion about ranges, crew certifications, maintenance statistics, and the like.
"The fundamentals of the meeting are the same, but (the discussion) adapts to whatever your mission is," he said.
Sixteen CU "Comanche Battalion" cadets will commission May 5, including Military Science 4 Athena Daley, a senior, who observed the meeting. She said it was a professionally edifying experience.
"It's amazing to see how each section, each department, each company is interacting with each other," said Daley, who was an Army military policewoman for 10 years. "They're looking out for the next eight training weeks, so everyone is on the same page, everyone knows what they're going to be doing. I think that's really helpful for cadets to understand."
She added that she will be returning to the MP Corps as an officer.
Capt. Patrick Zebrowski, 95th AG Battalion S-3 operations officer, said he wanted to the cadets to experience a real-life Army meeting.
"The cadets are literally going to be wearing this uniform in a few months, and sitting in on these types of meetings," Zebrowski said.
Master Sgt. Jason Gibson, CU Senior Military Science instructor, said the battalion training meeting was just another example of the phenomenal partnership between Fort Sill, especially its 434th Field Artillery Brigade, and CU.
The ROTC program is set up to emulate an active-duty Army battalion, so that its cadets can later function in that environment, Gibson said. For weeks they had been studying how a battalion staff meeting is conducted.
"Now, this is not out of a book -- they get to see what it actually looks like in the Army. That's important for a young officer," Gibson said.
Daley said that every time the Army interacts with the ROTC cadets it's an invaluable experience.
"The Soldiers have a wealth of knowledge that they're willing to share and that's always going to benefit us, always going to open our horizons, always going to give us a new perspective, even for those of us who are prior service," she said.
MS4 Victoria Roman, who will attend the Air Defense Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC) here in June, said she had attended training meetings before.
"I understand the detail, but I'm still trying to figure out the processes to make it work, and all the moving pieces," she said. "Hopefully, the BOLC will prepare me."
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