Cadets concentrate on the road ahead as they pursue the completion of their 12-Mile Road March. 11th Regiment, Advanced Camp conquered the 12-Mile Road March August 12, 2019, the last significant training event of Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Ky. | Photo by Madison Thompson, Cadet Summer Training Public Affairs Office
FORT KNOX, Ky. -While Cadets are at Cadet Summer Training (CST), they are completely focused on their training. They have limited contact with their friends and family, they don’t have the regular comforts of home and they must complete grueling tasks throughout the 37-day training period.
One of those grueling tasks is the 12-mile foot march, which 11th Regiment Advanced Cadets completed early this morning. The movement, from Tactical Assembly Area Densberger back to the Disney Training Complex on Fort Knox, ended the regiment’s 12-day field problem and put them one-step closer to graduation day. These Cadets will soon return to their universities to continue their education after CST graduation.
Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets must balance regular classes, military science classes, any ROTC training and many times, a job. As students, they stay busy with extra-curricular activities and hobbies between their other responsibilities.
Cadet Kyle Harris, an economics and business student at Virginia Military Institute, has learned how to balance his time between many obligations. Between classes and working as a lifeguard, he also participates in a wrestling club. On top of that, Harris does public relations at his university to gain useful experience in the business field.
“We do parades every Friday and I kind of help organize that,” Harris said. “Any high-profile VIP events, like we had the Secretary of Defense come last year. We had to help organize that and set that up in the auditorium. If reporters come, it’s supposed to be people from the staff that I’m on that have to talk to them too.”
Many Cadets become familiar with time management because they must organize many obligations around ROTC requirements, such as CST. Cadet Tara Muldrow, a marketing management student at Lander University, must carefully create her schedules to avoid any time conflicts between working at the library and her college classes.
Cadets gather their battle buddies for a collective photo in celebration of effectively concluding the 12-Mile Road March. 11th Regiment, Advanced Camp conquered the 12-Mile Road March August 12, 2019, the last significant training event of Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Ky. | Photo by Madison Thompson, Cadet Summer Training Public Affairs Office
“I balance it really well,” Muldrow explained. “I make my class schedule, and then I think about when I want to work. We make our own schedule for that too. Then, everything else, like anything fun, comes after that.”
Somehow, Cadets can still find time to have fun in their busy schedules. Several Cadets expressed interest in outdoor activities. Cadet Peter Dinh, a biology student at University of Dallas, said he likes fishing, hiking and traveling.
“I like to do things outdoors,” Dinh said. “That’s why I joined the military since I kind of like getting dirty, so I might as well get paid for it.”
The 11th Regiment Cadets will graduate on Sunday, August 18.
