Traversing unfamiliar terrain is one of the biggest hurdles for Cadets to overcome at the Land Navigation tests, but with some careful planning anyone can succeed. Cadets from 3rd Regiment, Advanced Camp trekked across varying terrain features of the Fort Knox, Kentucky, wilderness to find three of four points in under four hours as part of the Land Navigation (Land Nav) Test. For those unfamiliar to the area, the high brush, dense woods, and critters can sabotage and cause them to fail, especially when all you have is a compass and a map to aid you. Cadet Gabrielle Meyo, from Creighton [...]

  FORT KNOX, Ky. – 6th Regiment, Basic Camp Cadets examined their potential future career paths during Branch Orientation at Keyes Park August 14, 2019, during Cadet Summer Training. “We’re going around to all of the various branches, 17 in total, of the Army and we’re just seeing which ones we might be interested in, learning more, and, for me especially, I know very little about the Army and what the branches do. So, I’m just taking this as an opportunity to dive into a bunch of them and learn a bunch of stuff,” explained Cadet Reiss Becker, a student at [...]

  FORT KNOX, Ky. — 5th Regiment, Basic Camp Cadets learned how to group and zero their M-4 rifles at Morgan Riley Range July 26 during Cadet Summer Training. “We started with grouping and zeroing. Grouping is just get all of your shots to be together in a little group – hence grouping. Zeroing is just trying to get them as close to the center of the target as possible,” explained Cadet Gregory Cottrell, Virginia Commonwealth University. When explaining what group and zero was, Cadets created a few different similes. One Cadet found that group and zero could be explained in [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 6th Regiment, Advanced Camp Cadets attended Branch Orientation, a time where the different branches of the Army hold informational briefs to showcase different career paths, July 21 during Cadet Summer Training. “They’re just giving us an overview of career paths that we can choose from along with guard and reserve options. Basically, we get to active, reserve, and guard officers about what they do and it helps us figure out what we want to do,” explained Cadet Austin Pfennig, Eastern Washington University. Cadets glean new information as they visit each branch’s tent and listen to the Cadre [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 4th Regiment, Basic Camp Cadets studied and performed practical application of first aid and care under fire July 20 during Cadet Summer Training. “We’re learning how to do combat first aid, apply tourniquets, work with chest wounds, stopping bleeding, detecting burning, and any other first aid needs to get someone help before the medic could arrive,” stated Cadet Chad Crook, Western Oregon University. Cadets were presented with a hypothetical scenario where a Cadet and their battle buddy are on patrol and are suddenly under fire. Then the battle buddy is hit, explained Cadet Brooke Thompson, Westminster College [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 1st Regiment, Basic Camp held an inter-regimental Drill and Ceremony (D&C) competition July 19 during Cadet Summer Training. “We just completed a drill and ceremony competition, otherwise known as D&C,” said Cadet Maabendu Sirleaf, New Mexico Military Institute. “D&C is getting uniformity and helping us dress across each other because that’s really essential in the Army, that uniformity, and that’s what D&C teaches us.” The first part of the competition was between companies and held in the form of a knockout drill as Cadet Erin Wolfe, an attendant of New Mexico Military Institute, explained. Cadets were given [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 1st Regiment, Basic Camp Cadets completed their 10K Ruck, also called the six-mile ruck, July 15 during Cadet Summer Training. “We just did a six-mile ruck march. It’s just putting a 35-pound ruck on your back and walking for about six miles,” clarified Cadet Celeste Doiron, California Polytechnic State University. While traversing each mile, Cadets reflected on what they found the most challenging about the ruck. “Probably the main thing was the terrain. As far as I know, most ruck marches are on flat ground. This is relatively hilly. It wasn’t too bad,” stated Cadet Brody Roberts, [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 1st Regiment, Basic Camp performed Field Training Exercises in their “run” phase July 14 during Cadet Summer Training. The “run” phase of an exercise consists of cadre taking a step back and providing feedback during the exercise when absolutely necessary to Cadets. The exercise Cadets from Alpha company, 3rd platoon, 3rd squad performed was an ambush. “We just conducted an ambush on the objective, which was a linear ambush on the road. We had two enemy and were a squad element. We were directed by our squad leader to form up and I was on Bravo Team, [...]

FORT KNOX, Ky. — 1st Regiment, Basic Camp Cadets completed a day of Field Training Exercises (FTXs) July 13 during Cadet Summer Training. For many Basic Camp Cadets, this FTX was one of their first experiences obtaining an objective in the field. “We just accomplished our first run through with an ambush. It was many of our first time, a few of our second or third time. Most of us, it was our first time going through an ambush and we were pretty successful I think,” said Cadet Abigail Newman, Northern Illinois University. “We had a lot of things to work [...]

By: Madison Thompson FORT KNOX, Ky. – 10th Regiment, Advanced Camp Cadets executed Situational Training Exercises, STXs, August 2 during Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Ky. “Today is the last day of our STX, Situational Training Exercise. Basically, we are in the crawl phase of what we’re going to do. These are all Cadre run. We’re going through the motions and letting them show us how they want the lane set up and how to properly execute the things that we’re trying to do,” explained Cadet Logan Karsteter, Purdue University, (hometown) Milan, Indiana. Each iteration, or repetition, of the exercise [...]