FORT KNOX, Ky. – A desolate confidence course is abruptly rushed by 5th Regiment Advanced Camp Cadets ready to train, June 27. The confidence course involves a series of obstacles Cadets complete with their battle buddies prior to braving the rappel tower. “They are tested on three primary competencies: confidence, courage, and teamwork,” said Capt. Patrick O’Neil, from Central Michigan University. “It’s about maintaining squad integrity and encouraging each other.” 5th Regiment Cadets were by no means short on encouragement. While they waited for their turn to attempt each obstacle, Cadets cheered for their battle buddies who were completing their attempts. “It’s pretty [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — Fifth Regiment, Advanced Camp Cadets completed rappel tower training today to push themselves to tackle fears and improve personal courage. Cadets were required to complete three variations of the rappel tower; the slight incline, the wall and the open face rappel. They were meant to not only teach the Cadets but test them as well. “Each one is building up off of what we previously did,” Cadet John Manning, from Overland Park, Kansas, and attending Marquette University, said. “The slant tower is to make sure we know the basic skills. The wall side is so we can [...]

  For the first three weeks of Advanced Camp, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets of 1st Regiment established a trusting relationship with each other. They worked together to accomplish feats such as rappelling down a 64-foot tower and walking through a chamber filled with CS gas during Cadet Summer Training (CST). Then, 40 United States Military Academy (USMA) Cadets were suddenly integrated into several platoons of 1st regiment for the Field Training Exercise (FTX) portion of Advanced Camp. As part of an initiative to unite the two commissioning sources, USMA at West Point Cadets arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky to [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. – Fourth Regiment, Advanced Camp Cadets must strategically plan Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to ensure their platoons operate efficiently during the Field Training Exercise (FTX) during Cadet Summer Training. SOPs are the guidelines each platoon follows during each exercise. Platoon leaders are given an Operation Order which include details of the mission at hand. With the description, the platoon leader and their team of people will develop a plan to successfully complete the mission. Theoretically the success or failure of the mission is based on how well the platoon is prepared with their SOPs. Cadet Jacob Drobney, who [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. – Cadets give up a lot to be here at Advanced Camp. One Cadet is missing time with his son and watching him to grow. Cadet Alexander Graham is from Gainesville, Florida, and is attending the University of South Carolina. The 5th regiment Cadet enlisted in the Army in 2015 after earning his undergraduate degree in business. “I joined the Army after getting an undergraduate degree because it was tough to find work at home and I come from a military family,” Graham said. “My father was in the Army and retired after 20 years, my brother is [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. – Living out in the woods for several days brings out a whole new side of people. Cadets in the 3rd regiment are hoping the three-part training Field training Exercise (FTX) will showcase their leadership abilities. The FTX is broken up into three phases. The ‘crawl, walk, run’ model allows Cadets to learn and practice the tactical and leadership skills being assessed. The Panther Phase is the ‘walk’ phase of the training, during which Cadets are actively being evaluated. The exercises allow Cadets to fill various leadership roles as well as practice tactics, regardless of what the weather [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihy-87vdX1o[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, Ky. – Cadets of the 5th Regiment, Alpha Co., Advanced Camp made their way to the Woods II Range this morning, June 25, for their first day of Buddy Team Live Fire training. A New Experience For many of these Cadets, this event is their first time moving while they fire. Most are accustomed to a pop-up range or unmoving paper targets. Both options allow the Cadets to be still on the lane. The first day consists of a run using blanks rather than live ammunition. “This was really something new for me,” Cadet Spencer Rapp from [...]

  Forty United States Military Academy (USMA) Cadets arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky to join the hundreds of Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets of 1st Regiment earlier this month. The West Point Cadets trudged through a heavy rainstorm upon arrival, adding to the apprehension of spending two weeks alongside 1st Regiment for the Field Training Exercise (FTX) portion of Advanced Camp. The ROTC Cadets had already spent over two weeks at Cadet Summer Training (CST) working and training together. For the first time in history, USMA at West Point Cadets were integrated with those ROTC Cadets during Advanced Camp. The [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knk13datG2o[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, Ky. — Cadets from 4th Regiment took their personal fears and tossed them away to an explosive end at a new event on the Cadet Summer Training (CST) schedule. While throwing dummy and an assortment of different tactical grenades is not something new to CST at Fort Knox, throwing live frag grenades is. Just like with Buddy Team Live Fire, Cadre go out of their way to make sure that the Cadets are safe throughout it all. Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Van Houten, of the 1-41 4thID, was the Range Safety Officer, making made sure the Cadets knew exactly [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2oYFEZ13PM[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, KY.– “Some [college ROTC programs] focus solely on planning, [and] some programs focus more on execution,” 2nd Lt. Megan Brown, from the University of New Haven said. “It is important to learn how to blend those two together to create a solid plan and execute well.” Cadets from the 2nd Regt. Advanced Camp were able to learn how to blend these two very different learning techniques when they went through their first day of Area of Operations (AO), Grizzly at today’s Field Training Exercise (FTX). Cadets executed a hasty raid due to weather concerns. A hasty raid [...]

Cadets of the 3rd Regiment, Advanced Camp made the eight-mile ruck march this morning, June 24. The March Foot marches are hard work, there’s no question about it; 35 pounds on your back, decked out in full battle attire, marching for eight miles straight. They’re hard work, indeed. “Every ruck has its challenges,” Cadet Connor Sloan, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and attending Michigan State University, said. These Cadets all train in different environments when they are back at their home university. From hills to flat land, training on a different type of land can increase the difficulty of that ruck, but that’s [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. – It was a sunny morning on the George Blair Range for the 5th regiment Cadets at weapons qualification today. The Cadets shot at pop-targets with the goal of shooting 23 out of the 40 targets, at a minimum. For some Cadets, this was a first exposure to pop-up targets. For Cadet Justin Larson from St. Simons Island, Georgia, who attends the University of Georgia, shooting at pop-up targets was a completely new experience. “This is my first time shooting on a pop-up range,” Larson said. “Honestly, I was nervous because I had never qualified on a pop-up [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCnp9qzdzo0[/embedyt] “Battle Buddy, cover me while I move,” a Cadet yelled during the Buddy Team Live Fire. “Communication is key in anything you do in the Army and in general,” said Cadet Alex Counter, from Boise State University, “This is a true test of how you communicate on the battlefield and stress environments.” Cadets from the 4th Regt. Advanced Camp learned how to communicate with a teammate while under stressful situations at the Buddy Team Live Fire range, June 22. Cadets moved in pairs while firing blank rounds down the 100-meter lane.  One provided covering fire while the other advanced.  [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. — The sunlight was waning and so was the energy of the Cadets as they completed the 12-mile ruck march. The march began at 7 p.m. and took around 4 hours to complete. The march was conducted in a tactical manner meaning the entire regiment moved in formation for the duration of the march. At the 11th mile checkpoint, Cadets regrouped, fixed their formations and rucked the last mile together. “The ruck is good,” Cadet Serene Farj, from Somerville, New Jersey, a student at the University of Virginia, said. “The morale is high. It is our ruck to [...]

Seven-hundred Cadets. Each from their own school. Their own hometown. Their own story.  These seven-hundred Cadets make up 7th Regiment Advanced Camp, who began Cadet Summer Training (CST) yesterday at Fort Knox. “It’s an amazing opportunity. After I joined, I think I became a better man.  Discipline, order, cleanliness, patience and just being comfortable with being uncomfortable are all traits I acquired,” said Gilyard, who completed Basic Camp at Fort Knox last year. Something Gilyard struggled with at Basic Camp was completing land navigation and climbing the rope on the confidence course.  Like most Cadets, the fear of not passing an [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. – Advanced Camp, 5th Regiment Cadets enhanced their M-4 Rifle skills at Group and Zero on Canby Hill Range today. Group and Zero is just one day in the four-day process of basic rifle marksmanship training.  It falls after primary marksmanship instruction and is the first of three days with live ammunition. Cadets make adjustments to the weapon based on the location of hits on a paper target 25-meters away. “Grouping is allowing a tight niche of bullets that go through the same directional path and not having too much deviation from your original target,” said Cadet Wynnjones Mbwambo, [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCvT6K_U-k[/embedyt] Cadets from the 2nd Regt. Advanced Camp were in their second day of Field Training Exercise (FTX) here at Fort Knox where they learned how to properly ambush an enemy. “This is entry-level tactic, in the Army you are expected to be able to be deployed in combat at a moment’s notice,” said Cadet Grant Leonard, from the University of Maryland. “Learning something like this is vitally important because it is the foundation of what the Army is built upon.” Cadets travel through the woods to an Objective Rally Point (ORP) so they can reassess how they will successfully [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. – Normally the weapons qualification range is filled with the thundering boom of live ammunition. Today the booming noise was actual thunder. The first round of Cadets were beginning to shoot as the storm rolled in putting a temporary halt to the range activity. “It was pretty bad weather before, we did not know if it was going to be canceled or not,” Cadet Mitchell Sanford, from Lagrangeville, New York, and a student at State University of New York Cortland said. A few hours later the storm passed and weapons qualification carried on as normal, in bright daylight. [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jjK6DVjnfE[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, Ky. – Cadets from 5th Regiment, Advanced Camp woke up bright and early this morning to tackle the six-mile ruck march. The six-mile ruck march is a must pass event. Cadets still in the running for Reconnaissance and Commando badge, RECONDO, had to finish the six-miles within an hour and half. For the others their time must be under two hours. “I finished in an hour and ten minutes but I’m not in the running for RECONDO anymore, land navigation got me,” said Cadet William Norman who attends University of North Georgia. Cadet Grady Gosselin who attends Gonzaga [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. – It was a nice windy day for the 3rd Regiment, Advanced Camp Cadets as they conducted their Situational Training Exercise by rehearsing Platoon Operations today. Platoon Operations are the different combat patrols that Cadetsundertake during their upcoming Field Training Exercise.  They will spend the next 12 days living and operating in the Ft. Knox training area, the culminating event of Cadet Summer Training. The training is not new as the Cadets practice these patrols and maneuvers on their campus during their labs and FTXs. “We get a lot of the Situation Operations Procedures [SOPs] out of the Ranger [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — Six miles, two aching feet, 35 plus pounds, and Cadets of 5th Regiment only needed one thing to push them forward, each other. The six-mile road march is the first of three different marches the Cadets will be tasked with over the course of Cadet Summer training. The time limit to complete the event was two hours. For those aiming for Recondo the time to beat was 1 hour and 30 minutes. Lt. Col. Jack Toohey from Ohio State University was one of the Cadre who rucked with the Cadets, but he had an added task. He [...]

Fort Knox, Ky. – Not many Advanced Camp training exercises are held in a traditional classroom setting. Call for Fire training is. Cadets from 5th Regiment spent Tuesday morning going through the Call for Fire training. This includes an instruction course in which Cadets are taught the proper procedures to call for effective fire, some practice simulations and then a must-pass exam. The training is often the first exposure Cadets have to the Call for Fire process. “I came into it kind of green and didn’t know exactly what we were doing but now but now that we have run it [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpqAJ7qPEA[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, Ky. – Cadets from the Alpha Co., 4th Regiment were hand-grenade trained today, June 18, each of them booming with excitement. An Add On Handling and throwing live grenades is an entirely new addition to Advanced Camp. “It’s part of a series of events that are being brought in an attempt to replicate aspects from Basic Training,” Capt. Daniel Snow, assistant professor of military science for Kansas State University, said. The Commanding Gen. of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) has decided that all soldiers, enlisted and commissioned alike, should train in the same tasks, [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo3WhA9dREc[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, KY. – “This training is important because, you need to be prepared with whatever the Army throws at you. You need to adapt and overcome,” said Cadet Savannah Mercado, from the University of Southern California. Today, Cadets from the 3rd Regiment Advanced Camp learned how to do this when they endured the Chemical, Biological Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) chamber. The chemical used at CBRN is tear gas; when unprotected, it specifically irritates the skin, respiratory system and eyes. There were several different stations Cadets visited to learn how to properly don their mask and suit. “The instructors here [...]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLZIqxixX9Q[/embedyt] FORT KNOX, Ky. — Three words dictate Army training: crawl, walk and run, three words that became very important to the Cadets of 3rd Regiment today at first aid training. Staff Sgt. Christopher Jackson, of the 3-414th Training Battalion, noted on one of the injuries the Cadets may be faced with in the field is a hemorrhaging femoral artery, a major vessel that carries blood through the thigh. Should this happen the casualty has approximately 60 seconds to live. Cadets are given several demonstrations and chances to see how to deal with this kind of injury so that in [...]