The political gridlock surrounding the government shutdown forced Fresno State’s Army ROTC program to take extraordinary measures to ensure cadet training is not impacted.
People at Fresno State Saturday morning saw the unusual sight of 77 cadets from the Fresno State and Fresno City College Army ROTC programs, dressed in uniform, participating in a training exercise on campus.
A few weeks ago no one in the Army ROTC program anticipated that this exercise would be conducted at Fresno State. Normally it’s held for two nights each semester at Camp San Luis Obispo.
However, 12 days before the event the government shutdown started, and it became apparent that the facility would not be available.
That’s when senior cadets in the program came up with an idea: hold the event on campus. In just a week and a half they created a seven-hour course to test the undergraduate cadets’ mental fortitude, physical prowess and training.
“We wanted to try and maximize their training,” said senior cadet Stuart Reed. “Often we don’t get to do a lot during class time. We do labs on Wednesdays for three hours, but that’s not a big time frame to get things done.”
They separated the cadets into four competing groups who would have to use land-navigation techniques and problem-solving methods to overcome obstacles set up and manned by senior cadets.
The obstacles simulated real-world events that they might encounter during their time in the army.
“Our main objective, regardless of the specific events, were esprit de corps (pride in one’s organization), skill confidence, and team cohesion,” said Nathan Hoepner, Army ROTC assistant professor of military science. “And those are the objectives we had from the time we were planning for the original exercise. So we just had to find another way of achieving those objectives.”
Some of the simulations included using teamwork to cross a broken bridge, gathering information from informants who would give the groups of cadets clues on where to go for their next objective and carrying casualties to a pre-determined location to radio for a helicopter to evacuate them.
One of the biggest challenges in creating the exercise was that none of the federal money ROTC normally relies on to conduct events of this magnitude was available due to the government shutdown.
“We had a lot of support from the campus,” Stuart said.
The Fresno State Police Department lent ROTC some of their electric golf carts to get around campus. The university also worked with Army ROTC to reserve locations on campus despite short warning and other events such as the Wiggle Waggle Walk on the same day. The agriculture department allowed their orchards to be used for the exercise.
For the rest of the funding needed to facilitate the exercise and the barbecue for the cadets afterwards, the Army ROTC program used funds from its Cadet Fund. The fund gets money through the volunteer work cadets do picking up trash inside and outside Bulldog Stadium after football games.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the exercise was the last hurdle the cadets faced.
After six hours of mentally and physically-challenging obstacles they were required to perform the exercises modeled after the ones that anyone entering the army must complete prior to enlistment.
The cadets were required to do a significant number of sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and run a mile as a group.
After these exercises were completed, one of the cadets, smiling with his arms wrapped around two of his other teammates, perhaps put it best.
“I’ve got nothing left,” he said.
Stuart said in some ways the shutdown worked in the senior cadets’ favor when they set up the course to challenge the younger cadets.
“It almost worked out for the better because we were able to focus more on them, and keep it more central,” Stuart said. “Instead of sending them to somewhere they’d never been””they don’t know what’s there, there’s a lot of unknowns””and it kind of made them more comfortable so then they could focus on the training.”
Although the Army ROTC considered this exercise a success, more hurdles are ahead for the cadets the longer the government shutdown continues.
Some ROTC students receive scholarships and those scholarships provide cadets with a monthly stipend. However, because of the government shutdown, those scholarships cannot be awarded and the stipends will not be dispersed.
“The cadets are just driving on,” Hoepner said. “We are reasonably confident it will work out. The cadets are in ROTC to become leaders. They are not in it for the stipend.”
Cadet Michael Kalinin is the recipient of one of these scholarships.
“Our payments have been put on hold, just like most of the rest of the military, just trying to get through it. I got a job working nights now.
“I had my budget planned out through Nov. 1, because that’s usually about the time we get our big payment. And that’s usually when I have my car insurance and all that coming up. So at that point we might get it or we might not. As a precaution I went out, got a job. So I’m working 30 hours a week to make sure that money is there.”
According to Hoepner, it’s unclear whether scholarship stipend payments that go unpaid during the shutdown will be refunded.
Despite the challenges posed to the program by the shutdown on Saturday, many were impressed by how well the event came together.
Kalinin said the exercise was, “Just great planning, though, from our cadre, our upper leadership there, to put something amazing together like this.
“It was tough but it provided an opportunity for not only myself, but all the cadets to prove stuff to themselves and the other cadets around them””that they got the mettle, they belong here. It wasn’t easy, not everybody could have done it, but they did.”
The event also impressed Hoepner.
“I am really proud of the way the cadets have responded,” he said. “The way they have come up with creative ways to keep going. You see when something goes wrong, when you end up with an obstacle you didn’t expect, they are taking it as an opportunity and not a downer. We are really happy with that.”
