WEST POINT, N.Y. (Sept. 23) -- With summer training over for nearly two months now and the U.S. Corps of Cadets fully immersed in academic activities, any tactical training time comes at a high premium. Fortunately, cadets from 4th Regiment experienced a training session that was every bit as valuable as the time allotted for it.
About 175 cadets from Company A-4 and others within 4th Regt. participated in voluntary static load training with UH-60 helicopters Sept. 17 at the Camp Buckner parade field. At least half of those cadets were Plebes and Yearlings who had rarely, if ever, flown on a Black Hawk before and welcomed the opportunity to ride one.
What was of more interest than the training itself was that it was entirely cadet-driven. The planning for this session of unit training time began after Class of 2011 Cadet Hans Seller, Company A-4 military development officer, returned from Pathfinder training.
During that time, he learned how to conduct advanced helicopter missions and parachute missions from fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.
Seller then approached Class of 2011 Cadet Robert Kirkwood, A-4 Company commander, and presented the idea of conducting UTT with aviation assets. At first Kirkwood was skeptical about the idea, but once Seller started pulling resources together, cadet leadership's interest in the training grew.
"We thought that last year, when we put together our UTT ideas, we didn't want to do the regular UTT thing," Kirkwood, a Tacoma, Wash., native, said. "We didn't want a platoon run; we didn't want to just walk around West Point. If we're going to do it, we want to do it right."
This last summer, many of the freshmen cadets rode in Chinooks, Ospreys and other transports, but a significant number of cadets did not have experience riding in a Black Hawk. The UTT afforded the opportunity to conduct static load training, which teaches the proper procedures for boarding and exiting a helicopter.
The training was also an opportunity for the upperclass to practice leadership by serving as chalk leaders for each flight. Seller and other cadet graduates of Pathfinder training served as trainers and safeties.
With everyone's busy schedules this time of year, it can be difficult for the cadets to plan and conduct tactical training in between satisfying academic requirements. By creating dynamic training like this and offering it as a voluntary opportunity, those who participated in the event found it educational and fun.
"With something like this, which comes out very rarely, we send it out as optional and we say, 'hey look, it's not required (and) it's in your free time, but if you want to get some good training you're more than welcome to,'" Kirkwood said. "It's shifting unit training time from being a waste of time in the middle of the week to something that's worthwhile-something people will enjoy doing."
Seller, a Houston native, thought it would be a great experience to conduct a large-scale, advanced level of training. With the overwhelmingly positive response he has received from the underclassmen, he and his fellow cadet Pathfinders are working on bringing a larger capability of aircraft to the academy.
The static-load training was the first step in achieving that capability, Seller said. The next step of this Pathfinder-inspired training will involve live sling-load training and integrate seasoned air assault-qualified cadets in order to bring them up to a higher level of proficiency.
"That way, cadets don't come here, get a badge and disappear," Seller said. "We have cadets who go to a school, and then we can improve their training here and send them into the Army (as) a better-trained lieutenant, able to conduct better and more complex operations."
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