KILLEEN, Texas — Almost 150 ROTC cadets from the Texas Battalion, 5th Army ROTC Brigade, U.S. Army Cadet Command put their military leadership skills to the test at A&M Central Texas this April.
Taking on what is known as Field Training Exercises (FTX), cadets faced three days of land navigation, small unit competition, leadership and physical challenges.
40-50 senior cadets from A&M Central Texas, University of Mary Hardin Baylor and Tarleton began planning the exercises four months ahead of the event. Major Kyle Surridge, assistant professor of military science, praised the cadets for putting the events together.
“The senior cadets from A&M-Central Texas, University Mary Hardin Baylor, and Tarleton are responsible for every detail of this event,” said Surridge. “It is part of their military training to learn how to plan a large-scale operation.”
Cadets were up before dawn on both days of exercises, beginning at "zero-dark-thirty", or 2 a.m., and bedded down by 8 p.m.
Activities included working out on the obstacle course, completing land navigation exercises, participating in small unit competitions and fulfilling leadership training assignments.
Surridge says not only is FTX an important capstone event for cadets, it is also important to their future in the military, as how well each cadet performs will result in placement into a national ranking system that will determine their post-commission assignment.
Cadets will also take what they learned in FTX and put it to use at the 2023 Fort Knox Cadet Summer Training, the largest and one of the most competitive annual training events in the Army.
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