U.S. Army Cadet Command

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You can also follow our primary summer training courses online.

The Leader’s Training Course, or LTC, also known as Operation BOLD CHALLENGE, is held each summer at Fort Knox, Ky. The course exists to motivate and qualify college students to enter the Senior Army ROTC program on their campus. Check out LTC at http://leaderstrainingcourse.com.

The Leader Development and Assessment Course, known as Operation WARRIOR FORGE, is U.S. Army Cadet Command’s flagship training and assessment event that every Army Cadet must successfully complete before he or she can be commissioned as an Army officer. Check out LDAC at http://warriorforge.wordpress.com.

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FORT AP HILL, Va. - Cadets learn the importance of trusting in their teammates, and building confidence in one another during the ropes course training held June 26 at the 2011 JCLC Mountain. Photo by Esther Dacanay

By Esther Dacanay
U.S. Army Cadet Command

FORT AP HILL, Va. – For most teenagers, their idea of summer camp is basking along the seashore by day, and sharing fireside chats by night. But for Army JROTC cadets, JCLC Mountain is a different kind of camp.

Approximately 418 high school students enrolled in Army JROTC programs at 30 schools nationwide arrived at Camp Wilcox on Fort AP Hill for the 2011 JCLC Mountain held June 24 – 29, ready to test the limits of their endurance, stamina, and leadership capabilities. Unfortunately, three of them had to learn the hard way that JCLC Mountain is not “Camp Cupcake.”

The remaining 415 Army junior cadets continue in their Army Strong efforts to stay in the game and finish what they started as they grow in confidence and leadership during the six-day camp adventure. The typical daily routine for JCLC attendants consists of a 5:30am wake up call, movement to breakfast and/or chapel at 6:30am, with strength, confidence and leadership training beginning as early as 8am, and continuing throughout the day. Some of the camp activities consist of marksmanship, rope bridge, first aid, land navigation, rappel/confidence course, and leader’s reaction course.

Cadets are not allowed to bring cell phones with them to camp in order to help wean them away from emotional longing to get back to their friends and family at home, according to retired Col. Reginald Geary, the Senior Army Instructor at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va.

“By the second day,” Geary said, “they learn to make new friends, and just fall in line.”

On average, four to six cadets representing each of the 30 schools nationwide attend JCLC. They arrive together, and a few share living quarters together, but are dispersed among other camp platoons, companies and units throughout the duration of their stay. In other words, they are challenged to step out of their comfort zone to meet and team up with cadets from other schools with different backgrounds, skills, and abilities.

“At first, it was really awkward coming out of my comfort zone away from friends and family,” said Cadet/Pvt. 1st Class Kiane Snoot, 14, an incoming sophomore at Woodbridge Senior High School in Woodbridge, Va. “I had to get out there and talk to other people I didn’t know. It’s really hard learning to trust the teammates you’ve never met before. It really brings out the true leader in all of us, but you just gotta trust that they’ll be there for you and won’t let you down.”

That theory is put to practice on multiple levels throughout JCLC as cadets experience it first-hand when it comes to building trust and confidence in their teammates while participating in each of the several obstacle courses.

“If you’re gonna slack, don’t come,” says Snoot. “I was placed in an immediate leadership position from day one here as a squad leader. But ranks are switched each day to give everyone a chance at a leadership position.”

Through Geary’s three-year involvement with JCLC, he says cadets tend to return to school with a renewed sense of purpose, focus, and a better understanding of what the JROTC citizenship program is all about.

“When it comes to being a leader, you can’t just sugar coat everything because everybody’s your friend,” said Cadet / Sgt. Reginald White, 15, an incoming junior at Petersburg High School. “ Sometimes you just need to forget who your friends are for a second, and just take the lead.”

Cadet / Maj. William Hutt, 17, an incoming senior at Liberty High School in Bealeton, Va., took great interest in the fact that his strength and abilities as a leader have grown and developed since his freshman year in JROTC.

“My strength has increased greatly and my leadership skills are constantly getting better,” said Hutt, who plans to major in Political Science at North Georgia State College on an ROTC scholarship next year, and eventually commission as a 2nd lieutenant, branching into the Military Intelligence Corps. “I’m adapting, and I find myself being able to just flat out be a stronger leader.”

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Cadet Jacob Brooks, a freshman in the Army ROTC program at Virginia Tech, briefs his Army JROTC leadership team on their fact-finding mission during a tour of the historical monuments in Washington DC June 25. Photo by Esther Dacanay

By Esther Dacanay
U.S. Army Cadet Command

FAIRFAX, Va. – Approximately 157 of the nation’s top 240 Army JROTC cadets toured the historical monuments in Washington D.C. during their time at the annual JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl, held June 24 – 28 at George Mason University.

The JROTC Leadership and Academic Bowl, or JLAB, is hosted annually by College Options Foundation, an organization dedicated to enriching the academic development of high school students and assisting them in their preparation for higher education.

This year, instead of having each Army JROTC leadership team directly escorted by an Army JROTC instructor, eight senior ROTC cadets were selected to facilitate the eight Army JROTC leadership teams. Each team consists of 20 Army JROTC cadet leaders, one Army senior ROTC cadet facilitator, and two cadre members, who take on the role of assistant facilitators.

“This is a different twist on what we’ve done during JLAB in previous years,” said retired Lt. Col. Dwayne Gatson, the Senior Army Instructor at AC Flora High School in Columbia, SC. “Having ROTC cadets as facilitators, since they are younger, they are less distant from our junior cadets and can connect with them on a different level. All our facilitators are all stellar performers in their own programs. It’s a great use of their summer, and a great resume builder for them.”

Throughout the tour, lead facilitators consistently conduct a head count to ensure that not one cadet is left behind. In addition, they escort the junior Army cadets to each monument and share a few historical insights. They are also in charge of leading their own team of cadets, making sure each cadet has a battle buddy, and that they stay on task in gathering information for their special team project.

“I attended JLAB as a junior cadet two years ago, and the methods that are in use today help make things much more streamlined,” said Jacob Brooks, 18, a JLAB team facilitator and freshman Army ROTC cadet at Virginia Tech. “I attribute a lot of my success in college and ROTC today to my training in JROTC. It’s a great program that all high school students should get involved in to help develop their leadership potential.”

Each of the eight Army JROTC leadership teams are assigned specific tasks related to their team project. Many of the teams at JLAB, in addition to competing in the academic bowl, are participating in a high-profile educational project that will help enhance SAT / ACT skill training and test scores. In fact, the materials pieced together in these projects will be used to create a series of educational video games designed by Disney, and educational comic books designed by Marvel Comics, according to Terry Wilfong, founder of College Options Foundation.

“This whole experience is outstanding,” said David Ryu, 16, Cadet 1st Sgt. from Howard High School in Howard County, Md., who plans to major in mechanical engineering in college. “I’ve never had an opportunity to learn about my true leadership capabilities and to really compete with a team that I can grow closer with. It’s truly inspirational to meet other students like me who share the same interests and passion to be strong leaders.”

Eric Moss, a Cadet at the University of North Alabama, shoots a photo of Michael Dobbs, a Cadet at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, in front of Cadet Park. The site was dedicated Friday as part of a ceremony celebrating U.S. Army Cadet Command's 25th anniversary. Photo by Steve Arel

By Caitlin VanOverberghe
U.S. Army Cadet Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – With the newly christened Cadet Command headquarters standing tall behind him, John Sogan looked over what was once a bare strip of grass with pride and accomplishment. Three cannons bearing the names Duty, Honor and Country, point southwestward as if defending the headquarters and the American flag.

Below the cannons, plaques anchored to a brick wall list all of the major conflicts ROTC Cadets have participated in. A quote from President Calvin Coolidge emblazoned at its center of the wall under the ROTC logo sums up its existence: “The nation which forgets its defenders, will itself be forgotten.”

Cadet Park not only is a centerpiece of the new complex that is home to Cadet Command at Fort Knox, it also was a focal point Friday in the ceremony to mark the command’s 25th anniversary.

“You don’t want to forget, and this is so we don’t forget,” Sogan said. “Our current crop of Cadets is out there on the front line, and other Cadets will be. But there is a long heritage behind them pushing them along. Honor the dead; honor those who have come before us. Don’t forget the sacrifices they’ve made. ” Read the rest of this entry »

Lucian Myers, donning a red Pittgsburg State University T-shirt, assists injured people just after a deadly tornado struck Joplin, Mo. Submitted photo

Lucian Myers figured to help his brother the evening of May 22, filling in for him in a play while he was out of town. The play finished at about 5 p.m. local time in Joplin, Mo.

Forty minutes later, much of the theater where Myers remained afterward crumbled amid the power of an F5 tornado, which ranks among the deadliest in the nation’s history.

The twister’s 200 mph winds blew out the theater’s windows and ripped off the roof. Falling cinder blocks hit Myers, injuring his left arm. When he got back on his feet, two bodies lay near him.

“There was only one time that I panicked. Other than that, it just didn’t seem like it was happening,” said Myers, a Cadet with the Army ROTC program at Pittsburg State University in nearby Pittsburg, Kan. “I just knew there was nothing I could do and whatever happened, happened.”

After that, he knew all he could do was help. Outside the theater, the tornado had virtually leveled Joplin. Read the rest of this entry »

By Mike Johnson
U.S. Army Cadet Command

FORT MONROE, Va. – An advisor to four presidents who has also been a teacher or administrator at six universities is the latest recipient of Cadet Command’s highest individual honor, the Gen. William E. DePuy Award.

Dr. Greg R. Weisenstein, president of West Chester University, received the award Wednesday at a ceremony at Joint Base McGuire-Dix in Lakehurst, N.J., for his strong support of veterans and, especially, for his support for and effectiveness in bringing an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps presence back to West Chester after an absence of approximately 20 years.

Created in 2005, the award is presented by U.S. Army Cadet Command annually to an individual who has provided significant support to the local or national Army ROTC, demonstrated support during the past year and provided service or achievement resulting in tangible or intangible benefits to the Army ROTC program. The DePuy Award is considered the most prestigious award given by Cadet Command, the parent organization of the Army ROTC program. Read the rest of this entry »