Wildcat Roar. Northern Michigan University Army ROTC. Fall Semester NMU Wildcat Battalion

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1 Fall Semester 2012 First Place 5 Person Team (Female) At the Task Force McCoy ROTC Ranger Challenge NMU Wildcat Battalion Northern Michigan University Army ROTC

2 Volume 10 October 2012 Department of Military Science Northern Michigan University 101 Gries Hall Marquette, MI (phone) (fax) Blackhawk Six Visits the UP LTC Rambo (gray tshirt) and COL Shultis (black tshirt) complete the log carry event together. On 2 October, the 3 rd Brigade, US Army Cadet Command Commander and Command Sergeant Major, Colonel Shultis and CSM Johnson, visited the Wildcat Battalion. It was COL Shultis first visit to the UP. The Wildcats introduced Blackhawk Six and Blackhawk Seven to Iron Physical Training (PT) which included rope climbs, litter carries, ruck runs, tire flips and of course log carries. They were impressed with the training, the Cadets of the Wildcat Battalion, and the beauty of the UP. COL Shultis awarded Army Achievement Medals to 2LT Steele and 2LT Pfiester for their performance as Gold Bar Recruiters and Brigade coins to deserving Cadets. He also congratulated the performance of the Wildcats at Warrior Forge 2012, for their results that ranked among the very best in the nation. COL Shultis was equally impressed with a tour of NMU s facilities and the various local training areas which clearly contribute to the training readiness of the Wildcat Battalion. -LTC Kyle Rambo NMU Cadets Outperform All Other Cadets in the Nation Over this past summer seven Cadets from NMU attended the Leadership Development and Assessment Course at Fort Lewis, Washington. The Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) serves as the capstone exercise and training event for all ROTC Cadets in the Nation. More than 5,000 Army ROTC Cadets from over 273 universities and colleges, who typically spend three years preparing for their trip to Fort Lewis, competed during the course this summer. LDAC is the largest training event that the Army conducts annually. The course consists of 29 days of daily leadership challenges, team building events, physically demanding tasks and military skills testing. Cadets receive formal evaluations in all areas from U.S. Army certified cadre in both a tactical and garrison environment. Recently the Professor of Military Science at NMU, LTC Kyle Rambo, was notified by 3 rd Brigade, U.S. Army Cadet Command that NMU Cadets had outperformed all other Cadets in the entire Brigade, which includes over 40 schools in a 10 state Midwestern area, and their results were among the very best in the entire nation. NMU Cadets accomplished this monumental task by consistently exceeding course standards in all evaluated events. Additionally, NMU Cadets received the highest possible course evaluations from their own peers at LDAC. For Army ROTC Cadets the Leadership Development and Assessment Course is the culminating training event in their cadet career, similar to a college National Championship Game, but instead of a trophy Cadets will receive a career of their choice in the Army. NMU Cadets who demonstrated they can perform like champions when the pressure is on were: Cadets Farquhar, Houser, Linsmeyer, Mallard, Marciniak, Rodenberg, and Zelinski. Upon graduation from NMU in 2013, these Cadets will be commissioned as an officer in the United States Army, receive the rank of 2 nd Lieutenant, and begin their successful careers leading soldiers. - Cadet Elizabeth Eldridge, Completion Cadet and 2LT Morgan Steele, GBR

3 Page 3 Ranger Challenge 2012 A Year for the Record Books! Dedication, motivation, and success: three words that encapsulate the Northern Michigan University Ranger Challenge Teams of the 2012 year. On October 5-7, 2012, the NMU ROTC Ranger Challenge five-person all female team achieved victory against all colleges and universities in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This victory marks the first Championship NMU has won a one rope bridge over a river as a team; marksmanship and weapons assembly and disassembly, a team strength test consisting of tire flips and pulling a disabled truck, a 400 meter grenade assault course, and a 800 meter medical treatment and casualty evacuation course. the best teams from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. Congratulations goes to all members of the teams and good luck goes to the ladies who will be competing at the brigade competition starting on the 1st of November. The men s teams earned multiple first place banners in the weapons event. The 9man team also won the obstacle course, onerope Bridge, and maintenance challenge. The women accumulated first place banners in the 10k foot march, APFT, obstacle course, in the competition in over 20 years. Additionally, the 9 man and 5 man male teams achieved runner-up overall positions in their respective category. The Ranger Challenge competition conducted at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin is a 48 hour strength and endurance test which includes the following events: a team 10 km run with rucksacks, equipment, and weapons; Day and Night Land Navigation over rugged terrain; the Army Physical Fitness Test consisting of pushups, sit-ups, and a timed 2 mile run; a 400 meter obstacle course consisting of 12 obstacles; construction and crossing of one-rope bridge, maintenance, and hand grenade assault course challenges. A dominating performance! NMU teams won a total of 10 event streamers. As a result of fivemember all female team victory, they will represent Michigan and Wisconsin at the 3rd Brigade regional competition at Camp Dodge, Iowa in November. They will compete against Congratulations NMU Wildcats on a great job at Ranger Challenge 2012!

4 Page 4 Summer Abroad Engineer Internship Program: Republic of Korea As a represented of the NMU ROTC BN during the EIP (engineer internship program) in the Republic of Korea, my duties and responsibilities were significant. I was a construction representative for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer in the Pyongtaek Resident Office located at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea (ROK). My major tasks were to implement quality assurance action plans for military and host nation funded contracts valued at over $43 million. I was to assure that construction quality was achieved by controlling construction quality in accordance with contract plans and specifications, enforce health and safety standards and to provide input towards solutions from observations made at the project site. During the fall semester of my junior year of ROTC I was given the opportunity to apply for the EIP internship. The application was directed towards science majors and I took a chance at it. While applying for the internship I had requested to go anywhere overseas. Since I was and engineer with the 652 nd EN CO and a science major, I thought I had a pretty good chance on getting an overseas location. When I heard that I was going to the Republic of Korea after completing LDAC I was pretty excited and started looking up things I would need in order to travel overseas. This helped me prepare for a 13 hour flight into Incheon International Airport where I met my POC who took me to Seoul where I stayed at the Ambassador Hotel before moving to Camp Humphreys. I was off almost every weekend while on Camp Humpherys. I would travel all around by the local train station at Pyongtaek, local cabs, and buses. I would travel to Seoul, Osan, Dongyong, Pyongtaek, and many other locations to go shopping and find some Korean food such as bimbap and Bugolgi or Korean BBQ. While at Osan I met with a couple Lieutenants that had recently graduated from NMU, 2LT Crockett and 2LT Stanford. While down at Dongyong, I took a guided tour of a cave, and a boat tour along the mountains of Korea. I would recommend the EIP internship to anyone who is interested in becoming and engineer officer or joining the corps of engineers. -CDT Ben Rodenberg, MSIV Cultural Experience in the House of Peace, Dar es Salaam This summer, I spent three weeks in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania through the Cultural Understanding and Language Program (CULP). Dar es Salaam translated into English from Arabic is House of Peace. Tanzania is a country on the east coast of Africa. While in Dar es Salaam, I taught English and American culture to the students at a high school with eight other cadets from around the United States of America. Prior to my departure, I went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for training. All of the cadets went through medical tests and received immunizations necessary for the country. We then learned about the culture in Tanzania; it is a country rich in tradition. The native language there is Swahili, but English is their second language. Tanzania also has an island of its coast called Zanzibar. Throughout the trip, my group was exposed to a culture completely different than what Americans are used to. The country was full of people who were happy to see mizungo (white people), and they were very hospitable despite the apparent lack of wealth. I ate lunch at the school and every day the faculty had beans and rice to eat with no silverware. The teaching itself was a great time. The students thoroughly enjoyed having actual Americans teaching them English and learning about what life is like in America. The CULP trip helped me gain great domain knowledge and spread American friendship to other countries. The students were sad to see us leave, but so glad that we came. -CDT John Owens, MSII

5 Page 5 From the Air to the Sea Air Assault! On the plane ride down to Ft. Benning, I had no idea what to expect. Freshly contracted, I had little experience with any Army lifestyle outside of ROTC, so needless to say, I was in for an awakening. Zero Day began at 0400 when first formation took place. Standing there in ACUs, the Georgian humidity was already making its presence known, but nothing compared to the Air Assault Sergeants who had just formed in front of us. CLASS 303 ATTEN- TION! and with a unified roar we all responded with two words that would be ingrained into our minds for the next eleven days AIR ASSAULT!, and from then until graduation I was known as 409 by Air Assault Sergeants and classmates alike. The yelling ensued as we fell out by roster number into our groups and learned how to properly perform the exercises that would leave us sore and sweating time and time again. As the days went forward it was clear that Air Assault School was not about push-ups and overhead arm claps, but about attention to detail. No matter what we were learning, it was all about the detail. From Aircraft orientation to Sling load operations and of course, repelling; attention to detail, or lack of, would guarantee your success or failure. -CDT Nick Ireland, MSIII Going Scuba This summer, I had the opportunity to receive training through the Combat Diver Qualification Course at the Special Forces Underwater Operations Center and School at Naval Air Station, Key West. The course was focused on special operations maritime operations, including aerial and subsurface delivery platforms. Several opportunities were to be had to soul search as time and again our student body was tested on our ability to deal with stress underneath the water. Through these experiences, I have come to know how far I can push myself, and how to never lose my mind in a stressful situation. I also learned how much I still Training with West Point Cadets Cadet Field Training (CFT), located in New York at West Point Military Academy, was not what I expected it to be. I wasn t really sure what to think but before going into it I was eager to experience something that would better myself as a cadet. To experience field training in an unfamiliar location around 300 cadets I didn t know was an eye opener for me. It enabled me to understand and get a feel of what constant military exposure is like. I was immersed into the West Point life style immediately, and we spent most of the time at Camp Buckner. For a month we got up at 5 a.m. and were constantly going all day till all of our training was complete and we were ready for the next day s task. We were need to grow, and what I need to do to get there. With this new fire in my belly, I ll do my best to live up to the final advice received when I graduated dive school: It is harder to live with the bubble than to earn it. You are held to a higher standard, for the rest of your career, and it s a responsibility to the community to continuously pursue excellence. All soldiers should strive to that standard, and, hopefully, that passion will grow further in the Wildcat Battalion. -CDT David Mallard, MSIV trained on individual and small unit tasks, and then we would apply what we learned to our next days training. All of our hard work and training led up to a single event and that was the FTX (Field training exercise). The intent of all the training we conducted was to succeed at the FTX, and give the leadership a chance to show how much they had learned. Some of the things we did consisted of counter IED training, a water obstacle course, basic confidence course, urban operations, and crew-served weapons training. I also had the chance to ride in a Black Hawk as it was our transportation back to the barracks after our four-day FTX. All the opportunities I had at CFT were worth it, and made good use of my summer. I was able to see how other schools/academy teaches there cadets to lead and that in itself was interesting and even frustrating at times. I have taken certain aspects of this Cadet Field Training away in order to make myself better as a leader, and I don t regret one bit of it. -CDT Ashley Collier, MSIII

6 Page 6 Investigating the Scene This summer I attended the Forensics Internship Program (FIP) in Saint Petersburg, FL. This world class training took place at the National Forensics Science and Technology Center or NFSTC. The NFSTC tests the latest forensics equipment as well as trains law enforcement and the military. My program was two weeks long and was very similar to the course given to our special operations forces. We studied all the things skills you see on TV shows like CSI including DNA, fingerprinting, hacking cell phones, and matching bullets to weapons. The skills we learned ranged from how to pick up pieces of evidence without contaminating it, to using gas chromatography mass spectroscopy to identify drugs and explosives. My fellow cadets and I also were taught about more military specific forensics like reconstructing an IED from the pieces. One of the classes that surprised me was the emphasis on photography in forensics. A professional photographer spent a day teaching us how to manipulate our cameras and the lighting to get the best quality shot. NFSTC even provided us cameras to take with us to use whenever. When we weren t training we had plenty of sights to see. We were able to go to one of the nation s nicest beach called ST. Pete Beach. The Tampa Bay Rays baseball team was within walking distance. A new experience for me was watching professional soccer. The Tampa Bay Rowdies were a block away and we received free tickets because our caterer was a sponsor. The game we watched was a good one between the Rowdies and a team from Puerto Rico. -CDT Erwin Marciniak, MSIV From Cadets to Cadre: A look into the Cadre World This summer, 2LT Jake Pfiester and I received the opportunity to further our training at NMU ROTC and see the other side of ROTC as Cadre members. Walking into the Gold Bar Recruiter position was a new experience for both LT Pfiester and I, one that many Gold Bar Recruiters have yet face. We were not only tasked to recruit and retain the Wildcat Battalion, we were given a set of new tasks due to lack of Cadre support and the transition the NMU Wildcat Battalion was going through. With the retirement of the previous Human Resource Assistant, Virginia Stallbaumer, we had to learn the ins and outs of all the Cadet Command systems, what paperwork was needed for scholarship applicants and for incoming freshman. This summer we also did not have Recruiting Operations Officer on campus to help mentor us through these last four months. Not only were we constantly talking to incoming freshman and younger high school students, but once the school year started we became mentors to the cadets, especially the Ranger Challenge team. This position gave us the chance to see the life of Cadre member, the long days and massive amounts of paperwork. At times it was very frustrating that we did not succeed at a task the first time, but we persevered until the task was complete. We learned a great deal of what the Cadre go through on a daily basis and it has given us a great appreciation of the amount of dedication the Cadre members have at Northern Michigan University. -2LT Morgan Steele, GBR

7 Page 7 Commander s Notes Families and friends of NMU ROTC program, This summer our MS III Cadets earned some of the highest scores in the nation at Warrior Forge 2012, demonstrating the results of their hard work and discipline. Warrior Forge is the Army s Leadership Development and Assessment Course at Fort Lewis, Washington. The Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) serves as the capstone exercise and training event for all ROTC Cadets in the Nation. See Cadet Eldridge s and 2LT Steele s article on NMU LDAC results for more information. Despite their very impressive results or maybe because of them, the Senior Cadets returned to campus this fall determined to make this year s training even better and more challenging for NMU Cadets in the future. This is a great example of the continued selfless service all Cadets should attempt to emulate. Their individual discipline, teamwork and willingness to develop others were critical ingredients for their success at LDAC, and will remain cornerstones for their success as officers in the Army. Successful officers are dedicated to improving themselves and members of their team and organization until they leave that organization. I m extremely proud of our results at Warrior Forge, but even more impressed by our efforts to ensure future Cadets will be even more successful next year. I assure all of our Cadets, families and friends that the Wildcat Battalion s efforts to continue to enhance training and our training focus will not change. Our focus remains: Develop leaders of strong moral character who are proficient in warrior tasks, perform well as a member of a team, and are mentally and physically tough. Over the summer we said farewell to two dedicated Cadre members, MSG Perdue and Mrs. Virginia Stallbaumer, but welcomed SFC James Hoffman and Mr. Lancer Gilliam to the Battalion. Both SFC Hoffman and Mr. Gilliam have already demonstrated they are professionals dedicated to developing and helping Cadets. Welcome aboard! Finally, please remember our former NMU Cadets, now Army officers, serving in harm's way around the world. Keep them in your prayers and thank them at every opportunity. We look forward to their continued success and safe return. May God bless each of you and may God bless America. - LTC Kyle A. Rambo Welcome to the New SMI SFC James Hoffman I would like to take this opportunity to say what an honor it is to be the newest member of the Wildcat Battalion. Over 21 years ago my career started and I was actually signed up to be a student at NMU. I would have started in the Fall of I decided a couple months before graduation to post-pone going to NMU and join the army for the college money. Well it took me a little while but now I m back at NMU and very proud to be your Senior Military Instructor. I look forward to the upcoming year getting to know each and every one of the cadets and the opportunity to build on a very strong program. I plan on learning from you and hope you learn a little from me. I can see that this is an outstanding ROTC program (Among the best results in the County at LDAC 2012). I hope I can add to and strengthen the Battalion. I thank the Army for giving me this opportunity and an assignment which moved me and my family back home to the good old Upper Peninsula. I love the U.P and the Army and now I get to teach and pass on my knowledge of the Army in the place where I grew up. It doesn t get any better than this!! I would like to thank LTC Rambo, MAJ Holman, CPT Hormann, 2LT Steele and 2LT Pfiester and Tina and Jimmy for welcoming and supporting me and my family. Airborne!

8 Page 8 Military Science 1401Presque Isle Ave Marquette, MI Alumni Updates Requested Name: Graduation Date (month/year): Spouse Name: Major/Degree: Address: Phone Number: City: State: Zip: Cell Phone: address: Employment Status: Employer: Please feel free to update/share anything else with us that is important to you: (along with any memories that you wish to share) Please mail above form to: NMU ROTC, 1401 Presque Isle Ave, Marquette, MI or send via to military@nmu.edu To DONATE to the NMU Wildcat Battalion please make check payable to NMU Ranger Fund and mail your check to NMU Ranger Fund, 1401 Presque Isle Ave, Marquette, MI or you may military@nmu.edu to inquire about specific projects that ROTC might be seeking donations for.