By Forrest
Successful Leader’s Training Course graduates have found more than military skills following them home to campus in years past.
For many Cadets, they find a whole new college experience upon their return.
For some, simply the discipline of surviving 28 days of drill sergeants, early morning workouts and spending days at a time out in the field affects their outlook on school and work.
For others, they find a place on campus through their ROTC battalions to make friends and find peers with whom they can relate.
Most agree, returning to campus and joining ROTC adds a new facet to college life that was missing from their early college years. No longer are they just students. Now they are leaders in training.
For Kyle Newman, returning to campus at
The criminal science major completed LTC in 2007. For his first two years, Newman attended mostly night classes because of the job he held during the day that allowed him to pay his way through school.
“Before, it was pretty much work, school, sleep,” Newman said of his first two years. “Now, I get a little bit of play in there.”
After he decided to sign a contract with ROTC and receive a scholarship, Newman’s schedule also changed, since ROTC classes are held during the day. But he found more than a classroom on campus during the daylight hours.
“I found out there were some things I didn’t even know were there,” Newman said, such as academic counseling and support programs.
He also found peers closer to his age, as opposed to the generally older, non-traditional students who made up the majority of the night classes he had been attending. And with those newfound peers came friendships, whether just hanging out on campus or going to football games together.
“Before, I didn’t hang out with anybody at school. I’ve just met more people in general,” he said.
Newman, who has always wanted to be a police officer, is still on track to achieve his goal. He enlisted with the Utah National Guard, which he plans on serving with after earning his commission. This summer, he is preparing to take the entrance exam for the police academy as well.
“It was definitely a good choice,” Newman said. “It definitely changed my course, as far as where I was going in life.”
While a change of schedule changed Newman’s college experience, for other Cadets the qualities they picked up during LTC enhanced their academic careers.
Ben Nemec, a 2007 LTC graduate who is majoring in engineering at the
“I came back, I felt a little more confident. I had better communication skills,” Nemec said.
Those skills were useful academically as well as socially.
Many of Nemec’s engineering classes involve group projects, and he said his enhanced communication skills allowed him to take more of a leadership role in those projects. He was also elected vice president of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at his school.
Nemec said that, like Newman, his circle of friends has also grown. While he still hangs out with his engineering buddies, Nemec has also been very involved with ROTC activites like the Ranger Challenge competition, where schools compete against one another in a battery of military obstacles.
He also participated in the memorial Bataan Death March this year at
“Once I got into ROTC, it was just a whole new group of people,” Nemec said.
Nemec said he has been able to balance his course work and other activities, maintaining around a 3.75 GPA.
“I like hard work. I like being busy. It’s been great for me,” Nemec said.
In fact, while some college students might at first shrink at the idea of adding more work onto their school work, some LTC graduates say the course helped them look at such an undertaking in a new light.
“After LTC, I feel like I can do anything,” said Sean Ashby, a 2007 LTC graduate who attends University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a partner school with
Ashby balances his class work for a political science degree with his ROTC activities, which include the Ranger Challenge team, completing airborne school and Cadet battalion commander, with other activities like intramural football and soccer.
“It definitely helped me do things other people find challenging,” Ashby said.
One recent example he mentioned was an assignment to write a 25-page research paper on the Iranian nuclear program for one of his political science classes.
“Twenty-five pages is a lot to write. But we spent 28 days at LTC. It was hot as hell, drill sergeants putting pressure on you,” Ahsby said. “Now, things just seem easier.”
Part of what makes tasks like writing a 25-page paper easier was a lesson Ashby brought home with him from LTC.
“A drill sergeant told me to do the right thing, even when no one was looking,” he said.
For Ashby, part of following that motto is choosing studying over the Xbox when there is work to be done.
“I have this conscience now, where I’ll go study,” he said.
While some returning Cadets find a whole new experience, others return to campus and see their surroundings through new eyes.
Aaron Olsen was taken aback by many of his fellow students after returning to
After a month of uniform inspections and marching in formation, he saw a lot of discipline lacking in the student body.
“I’ve realized the actual military world versus the civilian world is completely different,” the nursing major said. “People were dragging their feet around, showing up late to things.”
Olsen said he noticed a change in himself that set him apart from other students.
“I don’t have a drill sergeant yelling at me anymore, but I’m still trying to carry out that standard,” he said. “I’m used to pushing myself, and that’s what I learned at camp.”