Freshman Patience Winters slept on the two-hour bus ride to Camp Milan, Tenn. She knew she wouldn’t get much rest when she arrived.
Instead, she would be handed an M-16 rifle to defend a bunker from an attacking squad of soldiers.
Winters and 25 other University of Memphis Army ROTC students participated in the program’s fall Field Training Exercise last weekend.
The FTX provided realistic leadership training — including rifles loaded with blanks and artillery simulators — for students who are planning to be Army officers after graduation.
“We used basic infantry, troop-leading tactics,” said U of M Junior Talmadge Jackson. “You can lead in any situation once you get that down.”
It was Jackson’s eight-man squad that attacked the bunker Winters was defending. But, unfortunately, most of Jackson’s men died on the objective under simulated, indirect fire.
“My re-con team got hit, and we didn’t have good communication,” he explained.
Training was focused on third-year students, or MSIII’s, like Jackson, to prepare them for Advanced Camp this summer. Performance at the camp determines whether a cadet will become an officer or not.
Students have gone over “Battle Drills,” such as “Knock Out a Bunker”, in class, but this was the first training in a field environment this semester.
“We wanted to put them in stressful leadership positions,” said Master Sgt. Nelson Burnside, senior military instructor. “They found it’s harder to execute a plan when time counts and there’s an opposing force.”
Burnside and other ROTC instructors had been planning the FTX since August.
The goal was to make the training as much like Camp as possible. This included garrison leadership positions such as platoon leader and platoon sergeant. that rotated among the MSIII’s.
Jackson, whose regular position is company first sergeant, was platoon sergeant. the first day.
“I used the skills I learned as first sergeant. to delegate authority and enforce that delegation,” he said. I also had to rely on the chain of command.”
The chain of command consisted of fourth-year ROTC students who completed Advanced Camp last summer.
MSIV Joy Tolbert helped set up a land navigation course.
“Land nav is an important skill at camp,” she said. “We set up points close to roads to reflect the course there.”
As Training Officer, Tolbert said her goal is for the current MSIII’s to learn more about the camp than she did when she attended.
Lt. Col. Gregory Tubbs, professor of military science at The U of M, recognizes the importance of having input from MSIV’s and ROTC underclassmen as well as the third-year students.
“Though the MSIII’s are the most important right now, each class provides a different level of experience,” he said.
For that reason, several underclassmen went to the FTX. Second-year student James Hughes spent time as an enlisted soldier before joining ROTC.
“I’m looking forward to being an MSIII. When I was enlisted we had tactical training, but I just knew where I was supposed to be and when,” the U of M junior said. “In ROTC, you learn how it all works.”
