By: Cadet O'Shea, Class of 2015
How much do you think you can learn in 5 days?
What if I told you that after 5 days, a kid who grew up in the suburbs could navigate dense woods armed with only a map and a compass in the pitch dark? Or, that you could learn to handle and fire a M4 Carbine and shoot as if you’ve been shooting all of your life? Most importantly, what if I said that in less than a week you could come out with new confidence in yourself and create friendships that will last a lifetime? This is the experience of an Army ROTC Cadet at Frosh-O.
At 0630 on August 14th my alarm went off. Today, I'm leaving for college. There was one problem: I hadn’t packed for college yet. So, for the next hour and a half I spent getting what I'd need for the next four months of my life (obviously not up to Army standards). The relatively short car ride to South Bend was filled with emotion--excited that I was about to live out my dreams of attending Notre Dame and joining the U.S. Army at the same time, but also uncertain about what lay ahead. The fact that I didn't come from a history of military service, I felt as if I was jumping into the unknown, not sure what was going to happen the next week.
I was instantly welcomed to the Army ROTC family the moment I walked into the door. After I signed in, my "Chalk Leader," Cadet Wagner, personally walked me through the maze of getting my gear and quickly adjusting equipment before I was set to leave for Fort Custer with the rest of the Fighting Irish Battalion.
After a quick goodbye, we were off to Fort Custer, Michigan, a National Guard training facility. It may be a little cheesy to say so, but it was at this point that I knew that a new chapter in my life was about to begin.
The first aspect of the Army that every new cadet figures out is that no matter what task you are doing, it must be done with a sense of urgency. As soon as we stepped off that bus we were instantly ordered to fall into formation (none of us quite knew how to respond). After a bit of instruction about how to "fall into formation," we unloaded all of the rucks form the truck (they were fairly heavy to say the least). The rest of the night was focused on learning the basics of military customs and courtesy (i.e. how to address different ranks, how to march in formation, etc.). The real fun started the next morning.
Cadet Morris, a junior year (MSIII) cadet with experience as a Marine, promptly arrived at the barracks at 0500 to give us a rude awakening. We were given 5 minutes for “hygiene” and to change into our gear. This was the first time I’d ever had to fit brushing my teeth, using the bathroom and changing into my clothes in less than 300 seconds--plus, all of this was occurring at 5:00 in the morning with the sophomores (MSII) cadets reminding us how little time we had.
We were all headed out for our first experience with the infamous APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test). With only 5 hours of sleep under my belt, the push-up and sit-up test, topped off with a 2-mile run seemed like a blur. It was not the most enjoyable event of the week, but I was glad to get it over with. The rest of the day was filled with class after class to prepare us for the coming week. The seniors (MSIVs) spent most of the time showing us how to interpret a grid coordinate and plot it on a map in preparation for land navigation the next day. In land navigation, the goal is to successfully find different "points" (say a marked tree or stake in the woods) in a given area with the use of a map, grid coordinates, a protractor and a map.
For a second morning in a row we woke up at 0500 and then took a bus over to a staging area in the middle of a forest preserve. All of us freshmen were paired with a senior and were given our grid coordinates to go find. Having lived in the suburbs of Chicago all my life, I’ve never really experienced navigating through the back woods. Luckily, as a rookie my objective was not too difficult, as the targets were placed in fairly easy locations, during the day at least.
Later that night we returned to that same woods with different locations to find but with one added element: darkness. Land navigation at night was a challenging experience that I enjoyed taking on. At one point, my partners and I traveled 400 meters into the forest (with the help of a little bit of light from the sunset), but discovered by the time we were ready to head back, it was pitch dark. In what took 35 minutes to complete (but felt like hours), we walked back through thick vegetation with less than 1 foot of visibility due to my fogged up goggles.
The next day was about to become the highlight of the trip: range day. Wednesday was a day I’d been looking forward to for weeks. I had never shot a gun before, and what better way to start then shooting the amazing M4 carbine! After a few hours of instruction by experienced NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers), we were taken to a zeroing range to align our sight picture. After shooting those practice rounds, we went to the qualifying range. At a qualifying range, you shoot from 3 different platforms: prone supported (where you can use a "simulated sandbag" to rest the barrel on for support), prone unsupported, and the kneeling position. Then, a series of targets pop up, ranging from 50 meters away up to 300 meters away. After I fired all 40 rounds I was on an adrenaline high that lasted for the duration of the day. Unless you’ve had the pleasure to fire this beautiful, yet destructive weapon, it’s hard to compare it to anything else.
Our last day at Fort Custer was relatively short and we headed to the hands-on leadership course, where we as freshman cadets had a chance to lead a group. We took turns leading teams though a course that tested both our leadership ability and ability to work under pressure. After the course, we headed back to campus where we were reunited with our parents. We took part in an oath ceremony where we were formally inducted as first year ROTC cadets.
I feel honored that I was able to experience training using the facilities at Fort Custer, something that not all ROTC battalions can do during orientation. I’m looking forward to returning to Fort Custer next summer for orientation, but thankfully, next time I won’t be a freshman.
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