ITHACA, N.Y. - In a mix of mud and snow, Army cadets slosh on to the next training station. They pull their rucksacks on, sling their weapons across their backs and zip up their Gortex jackets. Still not warm enough. The wind comes, dusting a new coat of snow across their faces, and it doesn't let up. Shiver, push-up, dance - anything to keep the blood flowing.
It's 8:30 a.m. on day three of the spring Field Training Exercise, or FTX, and it's 38 degrees outside. The 300 student-soldiers from Syracuse University, Rochester Institute of Technology and Cornell University have been awake for nearly four hours, and it'll be another four until lunch is served. Five more obstacles to go.
The cadets and commanding officers, including 88 from SU, met in Ithaca, N.Y., Thursday for a four-day joint field training exercise to test their leadership skills against inclement weather and physical obstacles. While the training is mandatory for all years, the focus of the weekend was to prepare the junior cadets for summer leadership training held in Fort Lewis, Wash.
"You're tired, and the rest of your squad is tired, cold and wet," said Lt. Col. Susan Hardwick, SU ROTC battalion commander. "Can you still get from point A to point B and accomplish a task?"
That is the question that many junior cadets will have to answer. While at Leadership Development and Assessment Camp (LDAC), the junior cadets are evaluated on mental, emotional and tactical performance. The top third of cadets will have their first choice in branches upon graduation, so first-rate execution is critical, said Capt. Lisa Dweyer of Cornell University.
On patrol lanes further down the road, orders filter down the chain of command. A junior cadet issues a plan of action. Cadets scramble to write it all down before relaying the operation order to the rest of the team. The mission: maintain security in the area and check for enemy forces.
The squad departs and heads further into the woods. The terrain is difficult, and broken branches and puddles hinder its pace. "Enemy and civilians in sight," a commanding officer says, and the cadets find the ground, now silently gesturing to their peers where to go next. A combatant comes into view. Two cadets check him for weapons. They let him pass. Big mistake. He was posing as a terrorist with a bomb in transit. It goes off and two men are down. Two cadets are "dead." They failed the mission this time. Where was their security, their communication? They'll do better the next time, it's agreed, before the unit moves out, trekking onward to meet their next 90-minute challenge.
Over four days of patrols and squad tactical exercises, the junior cadets hone their strengths and weaknesses. The intensity is for their benefit. Spring FTX mirrors LDAC, said Ryan Hamilton, a senior cadet from RIT.
"The training we do here is exactly what they're going to do," he said. "When they get to LDAC they do squad movement exercises, patrol movement exercises."
But even the best schedules were made to be broken. Due to the rain Friday and snow Saturday, some exercises were cut short and patrols called off due to safety concerns.
"Most of them are on planks of wood, which are out in the middle of the woods, and if rain comes down they get wet and people slip," said Cadet Adam Ciacelli. "And that's just not a hazard we are willing to risk."
Ciacelli also said four cadets with cold weather injuries were brought back early from the field.
For some cadets, the largest hurdles they encounter aren't on muddy hills or nighttime land navigation, but on campus.
When Junior Cadet Andrew Gordon walked into a coffee shop on the RIT campus, he never expected to be refused service.
"They just didn't pay attention to us," he said of the shop employees. "They just kind of ignored us and then one of them finally said, 'We're not going to serve you guys.'"
He acknowledged that the majority of students are kinder and that some even go as far as thanking them for their service. "It's a diverse campus, so the reactions are diverse too," Gordon said.
Despite political protests and the range of student reactions to men and women in uniform, cadets say they are hard-pressed to let negative feedback get in the way of their objective to serve.
"I have a whole other group of friends that I wouldn't have otherwise, probably better than friends for some of them," said Senior Cadet Tom Wichman. "I think for all of us, the reason we chose ROTC as opposed to West Point or joining the military straight on, is that it's only a piece of who we are."
mjreiss@syr.edu
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