Army ROTC cadets build leadership experience through spring field training

Members of the University of Maine’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program built leadership experience and prepared for future training during a spring field training exercise April 5 and 6 at Bog Brook Military Training Center in Bethel, Maine.

The training is designed for all program cadets. This year, 83 students led missions including a raid, ambush, area defense and reconnaissance, and worked together to plan and execute ways to reach the missions’ end goals within a specified time frame.

This is the program’s second consecutive year training at Bog Brook, a National Guard facility. In past years the training has been held at Fort Devens in Massachusetts and at Plymouth Training Area in Plymouth, Maine.

“This training is important for our third-year cadets, who are the primary training audience and leaders of our program, to gain leadership experience with cadets from other schools in order to perform to the highest standard this summer at Cadet Summer Training (CST) in Kentucky,” says Delaney Corthell, public affairs officer for UMaine Army ROTC.

“First- and second-year cadets are also gaining valuable training from being set outside of their comfort zone for a weekend, engaging in leadership opportunities, and working with peers to conduct field missions.”

UMaine Army ROTC, or the Black Bear Battalion, admits qualifying students from any degree program and trains cadets for future positions as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. It is the only Army ROTC program in Maine.