David Atkinson - The Ultimate ROTC Guidebook: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Excelling in Reserve Officers Training Corps

2012 by David Atkinson

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ISBN-13: 978-1-61121-096-5

eISBN: 9781611210972

05 04 03 02 01 54321

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Truman State University cadre, the University of Central Missouri ROTC program, fellow cadets, Dr. C, Ms. Presley, family, and friends. Without their support this document may very well have remained on my laptop. I appreciate every bit of help and encouragement I received. Lastly, I want to dedicate this to every cadet or future cadet reading this text for their commitment to serving this country.

Preface

You may not understand all the references in this Preface right now, but it will give you a feel for how I came to be in a position to write this book at all, and why I thought it was a good idea to do so. Maybe it would be a good idea for you to come back after you finish the book and read the Preface again! For now, just dive in.

When I first started college I had no desire to join ROTC. In high school I had met with recruiters from every branch of the military, including the Guard and Reserves, and when I decided on my university I spoke with a representative of its ROTC department. But afterward I was still unsure of what to expect from the program; was not too keen on having to wear a military uniform, for fear it would make me look like an outsider on campus; and did not want to commit myself to something before experiencing what else student life had to offer. I decided instead that I wanted to have a college experience.

But during my freshman year I was somehow enrolled in Military Science 100. Many students take it as an alternative to Health and Wellness; however, due to my major I would have to take Health and Wellness anyway. I did not know a single person in the class. Nonetheless I decided to stay in MS100. I stayed because it was easyand enjoyable: it offered a little unconventional academic excitement. It was the only class on campus that let you go paintballing for lab and learn to start a fire and catch fish for survival. You could also feel a connection to something largerin this case, the Armywithout actually being a part of it. Even so, I did not join any extracurricular ROTC activities, such as Ranger Challenge or Color Guard.

Yet I ended up enjoying it so much that by the end of my freshman year I decided I wanted to contract as a cadet. I still, however, did not know a single person in the program, and was not really sure what it meant to be a cadet. I just thought I would enjoy the lifestyle, there were good scholarships, and I could serve my country. So over the summer I searched for any books I could find relating to ROTC. I may have found two, but neither explained how to be a successful cadet. Considering all the confusion and questions I had, I knew I couldnt be the only future cadet in the nation who didnt really know what he was getting himself into. Sure, the cadre would help answer questions; but, like most other cadets, I didnt even know what to ask, because I didnt know what I didnt know.

To join ROTC you must provide some proof that you have leadership potential; this usually amounts to listing any position you have held in an organization, on a sports team, etc. You must meet certain grade point average requirements. You must meet certain physical fitness requirements. You must go through a thorough physical examination by a doctor. To me it seemed as if the process of getting approval for a scholarship was never-ending. Fortunately, that was not the case. I raised my hand to take the oath on September 5th, 2007.

Right away I jumped whole-heartedly into the cadet culture. I bought an Army camouflage backpack, got chills the first time I put on the uniform, and began reading all the non-fiction military books I could get my hands on. I also tried to focus on raising my fitness test score by running hard, lifting hard, and doing countless pushups and situps. I was a natural runner, but the pushups and situps took some effortdoing fifty in two minutes was tough, doing sixty was almost asking too much.

A few weeks into the semester I was asked to go to a Ranger Challenge workout in the morning to see if I liked it. Part of me wanted to say no, because it meant waking up even earlier; but I went anyway. The first time I went, however, turned out to be the day they did the Army Physical Fitness Test so they could gauge where they stood. I collapsed after 66 pushups. I was amazed to watch the members of the A-team do 80, 90, or even a hundred with apparent ease. My competitive juices began flowing, and I decided this was something I wanted to do.

Through Ranger Challenge I made many friends, had many great experiences, and learned tons about the Army. About a month later, my class was told about an Air Assault slot that had opened up. I was at the top of our class Order of Merit List, and therefore had first dibs. You might never actually use the knowledge from the school, but that was unimportant to me and most others at the time; the cool thing was that Air Assault school bestowed a badge upon completion, and I just wanted that badge to wear on my uniform, like so many of the cadre and upperclassmen. However, a week or two later information came out about a new program called Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency (CULP). Information about it was scarce because it was so new, but it was clear that the cadets selected would get to travel to another country to do military training. Getting in wasnt guaranteed, like for Air Assault school, because slots were limited and there was an application process; but I decided to take my chances for the opportunity to travel abroad for free. My friend went to Air Assault instead and earned the badge; if I didnt get selected for CULP, I would be kicking myself for the next year. That semester I also joined Color Guard.

In the spring I decided to start a military-focused organization to enhance tactics and learn skills based on books I was reading about special operations. Nowadays it seems laughable, and it is easier to see that the cadre doubted it would take off or that anyone would want to show up and dedicate even more time to Army training. Our unofficial organization began with six members, including myself. We had no firm idea of what we wanted to do, and a couple of times our meetings ended up with us just playing Risk. That semester I was the only sophomore asked to lead a weekly PT session in the afternoon. Then, later that semester, I learned that I was one of 15 cadets from the nation selected to travel to Slovakia for three weeks as part of CULP! During this semester I also competed in the Ranger Challenge Buddy Team competition. My partner and I finished first overall in a couple of events, but the grenade course brought us down. We finished 3rd out of, I believe, 76 teams representing at least 12 different states.