University of North Carolina Army ROTC Fall 2019 Newsletter Table of Contents 3 – PMS Greeting By Lieutenant Colonel Dan Snow 4 – Advanced Camp By Cadet Taylor Hughes 5 – CULP By Cadet Mitch Sorensen 6 – CTLT By Cadet Brady Miller 7 – Airborne By Cadet Kyle Walker 8 – Air Assault By Cadet Sophie Polgar 9 – Project Go By Cadet Connor Collins 10 – Week of Welcome By Cadet James Dixon 11 – 9/11 Memorial Run By Cadet Isaiah Jackson 12 – Fall FTX By Cadet Haden Smith 13 – Inter-Service Meet By Cadet Brad Lauck 14 – Army Ten Miler By Cadet Mitch Sorensen 15 – Ranger Challenge By Cadet Olivia Di Ruzza 16 – Color Guard By Cadet Colleen Burns 17 – Military Appreciation Game By Cadet Will Christensen 18 – Leadership Lab By Cadet Kassidy Blankenship 19 – SMP By Cadet Will Christensen 20 – Donations Page 2 PMS Greeting As another term draws to a close, it is inspiring to reflect on everything the Tar Heel Battalion has accomplished. Tar Heel Cadets have inspired and influenced themselves and others to accomplish any assigned mission and consistently improve the organization. Most notably, in recognition of demonstrated excellence, the UNC Army ROTC program achieved a #3 ranking of the 38 programs in the Brigade and was designated a finalist for the MacArthur Award for Excellence! Cadets continued to display competence and commitment on a daily basis through their ROTC activities, making full use of tremendous opportunities for further professional development. Since the last update, Tar Heel Cadets have developed through experiences such as Airborne, Air Assault, CTLT, CPDT, CULP, ProjectGo, internships, and many others. Cadets distinguished themselves at Advanced Camp, with over half earning “Outstanding” or “Excellent” ratings and over a third of the senior Cadets were recognized by USACC as Distinguished Military Graduates and two were among the top 10% of all Cadets nationally! Once again, the Ranger Challenge team excelled at the Brigade competition by finishing 4th overall (of 44 teams), the third straight year with a Top 5 finish. The Tar Heel color guard continued to reliably and professionally support the university and local communities, participating in over a dozen separate on and off campus events this semester. Demonstrating character and dedication to Army Values, Tar Heel Cadets continued their selfless service by providing over 800 hours of service to the greater UNC community. Whether hosting a community blood drive, organizing the 9/11 Memorial Run, hosting the Alumni Tailgate, or participating in Military Appreciation sports events, Tar Heel Cadets are projecting a positive image and visibly demonstrating the spirit of the Battalion. Heels also thrived through four months of tough and realistic training this term. Cadet experiences included long road marches in triple digit heat and Combat Fitness testing with frosty equipment; sunrise runs past the Old Well and muddy patrol bases near Battle Park; dangling from 35 foot obstacles and swimming in full gear in the pool. Throughout it all, Cadets impressively demonstrate resilience and grit as they determinedly enhance their leadership skills. This Battalion is undoubtedly prospering and succeeding in all areas. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to witness Tar Heel Cadets as they develop into true Army professionals. Hark the Sound, Go Heels! 3 3 Advanced Camp Each summer, Cadets travel from their respective schools to meet at Fort Knox, Kentucky to complete one of their final commissioning requirements: Advanced Camp. This entails 38 intense days of summer, spent completing a wide range of fitness and skill based training events. The first couple weeks of camp are spent in the barracks, completing paperwork, taking classes on skills such as land navigation, call for fire, and range safety. Cadets take day trips to the range to qualify on pop-ups, learn how to safely complete a buddy team live fire rush, and practice weapons cleaning and familiarization exercises. During down time, cadets are typically preparing for the next day or catching up on sleep. The back half of camp is spent in the field as cadets take turns running through different platoon and squad level leadership positions for various practice tactical missions. Teamwork and leadership skills are put to the test, as everyone must work well together to successfully complete a tactical mission. Cadets sleep in patrol bases most nights, and come back to a bivouac every third or fourth night to shower and swap out old, dirty uniforms. Eventually, everyone returns to the barracks, itching to make it through graduation to be reunited with friends and family. Typically, I am not the type to have fun running lanes in tactical environments, but I actually had a lot of fun in the field at advanced camp. I was lucky to have a squad of incredibly knowledgeable yet laid back Cadets, which helped make daily monotonous tasks almost fun. I feel that Advanced Camp serves as a crucially important bonding experience between Cadets from all across the states, giving us the opportunity to learn from each other as we prepare to commission into the United States Army as Second Lieutenants. 4 4 CULP This past summer I was given the opportunity to travel to Guatemala through the Cultural Understanding and Leadership Program. During my month in Guatemala, I was able to work with cadets in the Guatemalan military academy. I communicated with Guatemalan cadets to conduct military training and develop positive and beneficial relationships between cadets. I developed a better understanding of what it takes to work with a foreign military and was able to improve my understanding and use of the Spanish language. When we were not at the Guatemalan military academy we were able to travel to various culturally significant locations in Guatemala. This allowed us to gather knowledge about the history of Guatemala and how the culture has changed and grown into what it is today. This trip was highly beneficial because of the both cultural and military experience that it provided us. During this time I was able to see and experience things that I never thought I would have the opportunity to. Upon returning I feel that I have a greater appreciation for what it takes to lead cadets, understand other cultures, utilize language skills, and adapt to diverse environments. 5 5 CTLT I had the opportunity to do CTLT at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas this summer after completion of Advanced Camp. I was with Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 47th Brigade Support Battalion (47th BSB), 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (2ABCT), 1st Armored Division (1AD). I spent 3 weeks with this unit in August of this year and while I was there I shadowed the Executive Officer of the HHC, 47th BSB. During my time at CTLT, I did PT with the unit every morning and then worked in the office and aided the 1st Lieutenant I was assigned to with all of his daily tasks. I was able to attend Battalion level staff meetings, maintenance meetings, as well as listen in to the weekly company training meeting. I also got to do a lot of actual work that an XO does, such as build Troop to Seat rosters for the upcoming rotation for 2/1 AD through the National Training Center (NTC) to prepare them for the deployment to Poland in February of 2020. My Company Commander gave me the opportunity to plan and lead Company PT for HHC in my first week at CTLT. I had to prepare my plan and then create a CONOP (Concept of the Operation) and brief it to my Commander. My favorite part of my CTLT experience was being able to work with Soldiers, both junior enlisted and senior NCOs alike. I learned just as much from the junior enlisted that I did from the NCOs in the 47th BSB. In my off time on weekends, I was able to go out and see El Paso, get some amazing Mexican food, and hike some great trails. Overall, CTLT provided me with an eye opening experience of the life of an XO in an active duty unit, and about life on active duty in general. I highly recommend every cadet compete for a slot for CTLT, because it will teach you things you don’t learn anywhere else other than the active duty Army. 6 6 Airborne This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to earn the coveted silver wings of a U.S. Army Paratrooper. Airborne School was a unique experience for me, as my prior Infantry service had been within a mechanized capacity as a “dirty leg”. Ever since I was sixteen years old, I had wanted the opportunity to go-to Airborne School and had tried to attend multiple times while in active duty. I found going to Airborne as a Cadet to be a personal irony, but despite the long wait it was definitely worth it. When I first arrived back to Ft. Benning, I was anxious yet excited to see the 250ft Jump Towers marking the schools training Area of Operations. Ground Week wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. We started off by jumping out of the 30ft towers while incorporating some of the basic fundamentals of the Parachute Landing Fall. Moving into Tower Week, we moved to testing out of PLFs on the Swing lander training and Suspended Harness and by the end of Tower Week, I was felt that I was ready for Jump Week. In my opinion, the best part about Jump Week were the actual jumps themselves. Once the first aircraft arrived, we would be told to stand up and move out by chalk to the plane.