On March 4, 2021 the Cadets from the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program conducted it’s final Leadership Lab of the Winter Quarter before departing the Winter Field Training Exercise (FTX) this weekend. The Leadership Lab was held on the Cheney Waterworks property near the EWU campus. After drawing equipment and conducting pre-combat checks the Cadets moved out to their training locations that were spread out around the property.
Like our prior labs, the MS-III Class, which is comprised of Junior level students, led the squads during the training because they are preparing to attend Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky within the next 3-4 months. Providing as realistic training as possible to prepare them for camp is extremely important since passing Advanced Camp is a mandatory requirement for all Cadets who want to commission as an officer in the U.S. Army after graduation.
The focus for this lab was to train the Cadets on how to conduct a defense. While the Cadets were in their patrol base the squad leaders had to put their squad members out into security positions to defend it. While the Cadets were pulling security other Cadets who role played the Opposing Force (OPFOR) element launched an attack on the patrol base.
After the OPFOR elements were neutralized the Cadets then ended the exercise by conducting an After Action Report (AAR) that was facilitated by MS-IV Cadet and Cadre facilitators to bring out lessons learned from the training. Overall it was a great lab that prepared the Cadets to excel during the upcoming weekend Winter FTX.
Eagle Strong!
Note: You can see and download more pictures from the training from our EWU Army ROTC Flickr page.
