Directing his squad to tie rope harnesses for a gorge crossing, he set to work securing the pilot (actually a dummy on a stretcher) for the crossing.īut in a review later, battalion commander Lt. "We want to see their planning process, how they use the people and supplies they have" - and how they manage the tight 45-minute time limit.įor Justin Rider '12, for example, the downed pilot scenario was a lesson in efficiency and delegating. ![]() "We want to see how step back as leaders," said Alston. The course is similar to other teamwork-oriented challenge courses - but while teamwork is vital in the FLRC, the focus is on leadership.Īnd completing the mission is not necessarily the main goal. Divided into squads of 10-12, the cadets head out for the Field Leaders' Reaction Course (FLRC), a challenge course with downed pilots to be rescued, gorges to be crossed, top-secret devices to be retrieved and more. (This year's night exercise was canceled for weather-related safety concerns.)īut the real fun starts Friday afternoon. ("GPS batteries fail," noted Elmira College senior and 14-year Marines veteran Mark Smith.) Nighttime land navigation follows on Friday night. Hot chow, briefings, drills, physical training and preparations for the next day fill the time until lights out at 10 p.m.įriday morning begins with daytime land navigation - a GPS-free test of cadets' ability to find set points in the woods using only map, compass and protractor. Up at 4:30 a.m., they're in the field by 6:30 a.m. The weekend starts Thursday with a move into the Armory, where cadets sleep side by side on bedrolls in the gym. Their performance at LDAC helps determine their first posting after graduation. The exercises prepare juniors for the Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC), a 28-day summer course at Fort Lewis, Wash., that all cadets must complete before being commissioned. (The Air Force, Navy and Marine ROTC units each has corresponding exercises according to their training regimens.) The entire Excelsior Battalion, which includes cadets from Cornell, Elmira College, Binghamton University, SUNY Cortland, Ithaca College and Wells College, participates. "This is where they have to put it all together." "This is the culmination of their classes," he said of the juniors. "We live for this stuff."Īs a senior, Alston helped plan and oversee the weekend's activities. ![]() "This is what we like to do," said Andrew Alston '11. Many of the 77 participating cadets had had little sleep since moving into the National Guard Armory on Hanshaw Road two days earlier.īut if anyone had complaints, they kept them quiet. 6 was part of the Army ROTC's biannual Field Training Exercise (FTX) - an intensive three-day retreat that tests the leadership mettle of juniors while introducing freshmen and sophomores to Army rigor.Īs the darkness and fog lifted, sleet, rain and wind added to the discomfort. The exercise on Cornell's Mount Pleasant training grounds Nov. Marble's task: adjust her strategy, instruct the squad members and execute a new plan - all while avoiding (simulated) enemy fire.Īnd to make things more nerve-wracking, an officer followed her every move, writing meticulously on a blue grading card. ![]() In the midst of the commotion, three masked and armed insurgents approached with guns drawn and started firing. But then came the unforeseen.Ī radio call reported nearby enemy artillery. The scenario had been meticulously laid out, relayed and rehearsed. Every few feet they paused, alert to possible threats, before squad leader Stephanie Marble '12 motioned them forward again. A half-dozen soldiers, fanned out in a wedge formation, crept quietly through the foggy, frosty woods on a recon mission. The assault on the enemy bunker began as planned.
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