FORT SILL, Oklahoma (Feb. 11, 2022) More than 70 cadets from two Texas universities came to Fort Sill to get an idea of what their future in the Army could be.
“We have cadets from the University of Texas Arlington and the University of North Texas,” said Maj. Kenneth Metcalf, assistant professor of military science, University of North Texas. “We brought the cadets to talk to some of the leadership in 428th Field Artillery Brigade. They had a question and answer session and then we are taking them out to the range to go on the gun line and also the observation point to see how the FA works.”
Metcalf assists the ROTC programs at both universities by planning the labs and different training, field training exercises and the military science (MS) one through four levels.
According to Metcalf, MS1 are the freshmen and MS4 are the seniors. MS4 already went to camp and completed Cadet Summer Training and have chosen a branch of service.
“They’re branching. The MS3s, or juniors, are the main group of cadets here today. They will go to camp this summer and CST which is their advanced camp to decide what branch they’ll go to,” he said.
The opportunity to come to Fort Sill is a definite benefit to the cadets because they learn more about the Forces Command (FORCOM) side of things, he said.
“I know we have three or four here who want to branch FA, so just getting to actually see what they do in person is great,” said Metcalf. “For some cadets who are undecided on their branches, this is an awesome opportunity for them to come here and actually see what that life would be like.”
Thomas Supina is an economics major at the University of Texas at Arlington. He commissioned as field artillery. He said he was excited to learn they were going to Fort Sill to see live fires and possibly have a chance to fire artillery as well.
“I’m really looking forward to shooting today because they (428th FA leaders) said we’ll be able to shoot the cannons,” said Supina, an enlisted Soldier with the National Guard and a ‘mortar man.’
“I like shooting mortars. I've been able to do a little bit but not actually on live fire because I'm not qualified,” he said. “I like the challenge of being able to hit targets that you can't even see and coordinating with the observers. I think artillery considers more variables that present a different challenge.”
Supina said branching his field is an extremely long process that starts in MS1 year.
“When you start doing well with physical training, and in Recruit Training Command, then you go to advanced camp where you do well,” he explained. “Then you do surveys and questionnaires; you interview for branch of choice, which includes doing video interviews. Then the branching board will evaluate everything you've done, and see if they want you or not. Then you get selected for your branch choice or not.”
Supina got his first choice because he had excellent ratings from a variety of people, and he had a good grade point average.
“I was honestly very surprised when I found out I was in the top 10%. I've struggled in some areas, but I think that helped me get first choice,” he said. “By being at the top of my class, the branch board will see ‘Hey, this kid, he knows what he's doing. He applies himself, so I want him to be in our branch.’”
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