By Joe Castelli
Staff writer
Cadet Matthew Dinwiddie experienced some days at the Leader’s Training Course when he just didn’t see the point. The Co. D 1/46th Inf. Cadet sometimes doubted whether he’d use a given skill ever again.
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| Delta Co. Cadet Ira Burg from Penn State-Abington in Pennsylvania helps his teammates form around the perimiter of a planning area. Photo by Kristin Sherrard |
Then it came time for Dinwiddie and the rest of his squad to take up paintball guns and navigate through the woods until they encountered a simulated opposing force, or OPFOR, that would actually fire back at them.
“I’m crawling, trying to make sure I’m not getting hit by paintballs, and all the training makes sense now,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, wow, that really saved me from getting lit up by the OPFOR.’ ”
The field training exercise is where the sometimes-tedious training Cadets have gone through is put into a realistic context. FTX is the culminating event of LTC, consisting of mobile operations and urban tactics and squad situational training.
The field training drops Cadets in simulated battle scenarios where they put their decision-making training to use. They take on an assortment of missions where they decide the best course of action to complete their objectives while battling second lieutenants acting as opposing forces in the mock city of Karjackistan.
MOUT training presents Cadets with challenges such as clearing rooms and determining enemies from civilians in a simulated marketplace. Its outdoor counterpart, squad STX, puts them through a series of lanes simulating outdoor operations, such as waiting to ambush an enemy convoy and knocking out an enemy bunker.
For the three-day duration of the FTX, Cadets live out of a small forward operating base at Fort Knox that is also used to train Soldiers for life overseas. They rise from their tents each morning to travel to one of the two sites.
Cadets take turns leading their squads on each undertaking, giving each a chance to guide the group through a successful mission. Many make mistakes, but learning from them and making quick, resolute decisions are the most important aspects of the FTX.
“What they do out here forces them to put a lot of the skills that they’ve learned up until now into play,” said Lt. Col. Randy Crist, the company tactical officer of Delta Co., which graduated Thursday.
Making a mistake as a leader in the earlier days of a cycle at LTC doesn’t usually result in a chaotic ordeal, but FTX gives Cadets a realistic sense of urgency and situational consequence.
Incorporating paintball guns into the training drives decision-making, but making decisions with paintballs cutting through the air overhead also involves occasionally making mistakes.
“In the field, there’s not that chance to make mistakes,” Dinwiddie said.
Lt. Col. Steve Letzring said the key is making a decision.
“If nothing else, when they leave here they’ll understand that as a leader, they need to make a series of decisions. Right or wrong, they make a decision,” said Letzring, the officer in charge of the outdoor FTX training. “The only real wrong answer is not making a decision.”
While following a squad in his platoon,
When moving on an enemy in the open field, it’s best for half the squad to make contact first. If the entire squad encounters the enemy on a single front, it’s lost a valuable advantage. Cadre often reminded Cadets during squad STX that battles are won by “flanking” the enemy, or distracting it on a vulnerable side while other squad members fire from another front.
As 2nd Squad of the platoon began its maneuvering of lane nine at squad STX, the squad leader made that mistake. The Cadet led the two units down the same path as a whole, which caused problems and led to “casualties” when the enemy spotted them.
“We know they’re doing it wrong,” Stoner said. “But that’s how you learn – by making mistakes.”
After such a dense crash course on the strategies of battle, technical mistakes are expected of the Cadets. But sometimes the mistakes they make are the ones that involve being a leader in general.
Capt. Burke Honzel, a coach-mentor-trainer who guides one squad in each company through all FTX training, said not communicating is the biggest blunder he’s seen Cadets from all five companies he’s trained so far. He said Cadets often forget to give direct guidance to get the desired results from their team members, and sometimes they forget to communicate at all.
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| Delta Co. Cadets Clayton Buckley from Easte Tennessee University, left, Corey Brown from Syracuse University, middle, and Blake Bremer from North Carolina State University, right, clear a foxhole during a mission at the STX lanes. Photo by Kristin Sherrard |
Fortunately, the courses are structured in such a way that Cadets have ample time and opportunity to get better through the after action review.
“You can learn from not only your own mistakes, but others’,” said Lance Randles, a Co. E 1/46th Inf. Cadet. “That’s a great recap exercise.”
During AAR, the second lieutenants acting as the opposing forces meet with the squad, its squad tactical officer and drill sergeant, and the coach-mentor-trainer guiding them through the training. Their actions are critiqued by their cadre, and the opposing forces help evaluate their decisions and actions from the perspective of an intelligent enemy.
“If you’d seen the first mission to the last mission, they make a pretty good improvement over the three days,” Honzel said. “They learn from each other’s mistakes during AARs, and usually there are certain things that are hard to grasp, but for the most part they start to pick up some of the details and get better with each lane.”
The field training has helped some Cadets realize how LTC has changed them for the better.
“It’s really helped out,” said Echo Co. Cadet Eric Sharpe, an incoming freshman at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, Pa. “I’m sure once I go home my parents will be like, ‘Wow, you’ve changed a lot.’ ”
Whether they’ve failed or passed the majority of their objectives, most Cadets enjoyed the learning experience.
“It’s a little stressful while you’re in it, but after the AAR, if the mission’s successful, it’s a lot of fun,” Dinwiddie said. “You go back smiling and talk to the rest of your friends about it. So it’s a good time.”