06/05/03
Steve Moyer www.nevadadailymail.com
It looks simple; a four foot high barricade about three feet wide, four poles of various lengths, some rope and some wooden crates. What it is, is a leadership test. One cadet is given charge of a group of cadets with the task of getting the crates and all of the cadets across the barrier without touching certain parts of it. It’s harder than it looks and it’s only one of the many tests cadets will go through in the week they’ll be training. Master Sgt. Ron Hancock, Paragould, Ark., pointed to the area where the group was in heated discussion about the task in progress. “It looks like the leader has pretty well abdicated. I can’t tell who is supposed to be in charge of this problem. That’s not good." After the problems are completed students will be scored on how they handled themselves and those they are in charge of, not just on whether they successfully completed a problem.” Approximately 750 Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students from four Midwestern states are at Camp Clark partaking in a summer training session. They represent the top 10 percent of the participating schools. Students were scattered over two square miles of Camp Clark as well as out at the Nevada Fire Departments training facility at the old sewer plant where instructors showed students how to rappel down the 30 foot tower the Fire Department uses to simulate rescues from various heights. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Anton oversaw the training. “I would really like to thank the Nevada Fire Department for the use of this facility, it is a tremendous help to us. Everyone here in Nevada has been very accommodating,” said Anton. Before students ascended the tower,equipment was checked and rechecked by instructors. After ascending the tower, students hooked themselves to a rope attached to the top of the tower and descended by regulating the tension on the rope running through the carabiner, a metal ring with a snap opening to connect a person to a rope. Before they could descend they shouted down that they were connected up to rope one or rope two and the instructor holding that rope had to acknowledge they heard by shouting back up that they were on belay for that rope. Once students received the acknowledgment they leaned backward and began a descent punctuated by short hops away from the face of the tower. A small pond at Camp Clark was the scene of several sets of students learning a variety of skills including survival fishing, traversing a one-rope bridge, crossing a body of water while keeping their clothes dry in their ponchos, and finding a specified location on a terrain map among other activities. One particularly tricky activity was called “Viking Skis.” This simple looking device consists of a set of square posts with several ropes attached. Cadets have to hold on to the ropes while standing on the posts. To take a step everyone in the group has to lift their legs at the same time they pull upward on the ropes while moving their legs forward. It is a lot harder than it sounds and one group leader was becoming exasperated by his groups failure to make progress. Before his emotions overcame him a sergeant took the young man aside and counseled him on dealing with frustrations. Such situations are what the training is all about. Not everything a person attempts will be successful but learning how to deal with those failures helps future leaders succeed.