Appalachian State University ROTC held its annual spring Field Training Exercise (FTX) the weekend of March 31st-April 2nd. The training event was held at Ft. Pickett Virginia and included not only Appalachian State, but also NC A&T as well as Wake Forest University. The training was to last over the 3 day period and included an obstacle course, land navigation, squad lanes, platoon lanes, and a 12 mile march.
The training began early on the 31st upon the arrival of A&T and Wake Forest. Collaboration between all three schools began almost immediately and common procedures were established. ROTC Juniors found themselves in a new situation as they had never trained with other schools and quickly realized that everyone had different ways of doing things. Once procedures were standardized, they began to conduct a platoon lane. An obstacle course had been planned but with the weather being temperamental and potentially dangerous, a small gap of time only left the schools capable of completing one lane per platoon. Despite this setback, ROTC Juniors got their first taste of what Advance Camp this summer would be like and finished their respective lanes.
Day two kicked off early in the morning with a night phasing into day land navigation session. Cadets were placed on a course much larger than they had previously experienced and were given maps and points and sent on their way. Overall, the course proved to be challenging and gave Cadets a point to adjust their learning off of. Then the day proceeded into lanes again which were led by Juniors once more. As they refined their platoon and squad leading skills, each lane continued to improve. By the end of the day, platoons were in good spirits and prepared for the 12 mile march which commenced early on the last day. Once the miles and time were put in, good training and experiences had been had by all. Overall, it was a successfully completed FTX. Article by Cadet Stratton.
Wrapping the Exercise Up With a March in the Morning Sun
Conducting Platoon Lanes
