FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. — Cadets from Tombstone High School’s Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) trained on non-combat warrior tasks and battle drills at Fort Huachuca Dec. 6-8, under the leadership of noncommissioned officers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE).
Roxanne Walker, a self-proclaimed "military brat" and Tombstone High School sophomore, has been a JROTC cadet for almost two years. She has plans to join the Air Force and become a pilot after graduation.
“I think this training has been very, very useful,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. I did it to just get the experience but honestly, I do not regret it at all.”
Walker learned more from the Soldiers about how to evaluate and treat a casualty than she had previously learned in a first aid course she attended a couple of years ago and said, Tombstone High School JROTC has afforded her many other opportunities like this event.
“They give us a better understanding of the military, and they have drill sergeants come explain military life and give us a better understanding of what the future can offer,” she said.
The training not only benefited the cadets, but also helped evaluate the NCOs ability to instruct warrior tasks and battle drills.
Sgt. 1st Class Adam Forrester, Directorate of Training and Doctrine senior enlisted advisor, said the 3-day event was originally only scheduled for HHC USAICoE Soldiers because they often do not have the opportunity to complete situational training exercises, or STX.
During a planning meeting for the STX, Forrester said HHC mentioned the partnership with Tombstone High School JROTC and thought it would be a perfect opportunity for USAICoE NCOs to practice what they had learned on developing and instructing training.
“We thought it was a good idea to bring the cadets out, give our staff sergeant’s an opportunity to practice what we have been training on in educating new and unexperienced individuals while also meeting that measure of partnering with JROTC,” he said.
Forrester said that HHC will continue to work with the Tombstone High School JROTC program for future training events such as the land navigation course.
Over the 3-day training, cadets received classes on communication, map reading and how to evaluate a casualty.
Retired Master Sgt. Dan Kilpatrick, Tombstone High School JROTC Army instructor, said the goal for the junior cadets in the program was to help them be better citizens, and it’s a great opportunity for them to learn more about basic Soldiering skills.
“In many ways, most of the kids going to JROTC do not necessarily go into the military, but this may give them an idea of what career field they want to pursue after high school,” he said. “Some of them today specifically looked at the medical training like ‘wow, I really like this’, and that may convince them to pursue something in the medical field whether that be in the military or out of it.”
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