“I have never met an atheist in battle; one way or another in a time of need we all believe in something.” – Chaplain Murry

Class 1:

During Tuesday’s online class, we had the privilege to speak with a special guest, Chaplain Eduardo Murry of the United States Army. For those of you who are not familiar with a chaplains duty, they provide religious counsel to those in the military, as well as their families and other in their communities. The quote I have bolded above is one of the first thing the Chaplain said to us we he  joined the zoom session. I had to think on this for a minute and really reflect on what he was saying because I was surprised for him to make such a bold statement. But when you think about it, if you were put in the position where you could die I think we all might pray to something, someone and by doing so this would make us religious in that single instance.

The Chaplain had a lot to say, and I think I speak for everyone in the class when I claim we were eager to listen. He was very upbeat and fun, playing music and dancing from time to time. I think at one point he had us all smiling, or at least trying not to smile. This positive attitude made me more inclined to listen to what he had to say, especially when he was talking about a subject that can be controversial to some. He talked about his time as a chaplain, and the unfortunate things he’s had to see and deal with. Specifically, talking about those who had trouble coming back from either a tour of active duty or dealing with their own personal issues with their friends and families that caused them to become depressed and detached. He gave us some insight on how to handle situations like this, seeing as how one day the goal is for all of us to be leaders. He emphasized the importance of watching over those under your command and making sure you know when somethings wrong with one of your people.

The issues he talked about are very common, and unfortunately many of the cases lead to suicide and/or the deaths of others. I appreciated all he had to say as he remained positive and engaged, even when talking about such a solemn topic.

Class 2: 

In class on Thursday, we focused on something called a Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Plan (CSF2). The term fitness doesn’t necessarily mean physical fitness, but rather the foundation a soldier has built with their family and friends and how strong their support is.

There are 5 Dimensions to this plan: Physical, Emotional, Social, Spiritual, and Family. These topics are broken into sections because each section carries its own characteristics. Emotional and Spiritual refer to what’s on the inside, while Social and Family rely on other people to make up the category. The idea of these 5 dimensions are to create a system where leaders can know how well a soldier can perform based on how strong their foundations are. Do they have love and support back home? Do they rely on some spiritual practice that allows them to perform better? How are they doing emotionally?

All of these questions are to be taken in to consideration when determining how solid a soldier is and whether or not they can carry out the duties they are assigned. As you can see, both Tuesdays and Thursdays lesson focus on the mental aspects of what it means to be in the military, and how to deal with mental instability.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”– Thomas Edison

The unfortunate thing about my blog posts is they relied on me physically being on campus doing things with the army. Obviously, with the condition of how things are now I can’t write a post about what we did in class, PT, and lab. So, instead I am going to talk a little about what we did in the Zoom sessions we are still having, and then talk about certain aspects of the army in general. Ones that don’t necessarily apply to what I’m doing right now, but will apply in the future.

Class (ZOOM)

Class has been kind of weird and harder I feel like now that we’re doing it online because this doesn’t stop our instructor from calling us out. In fact, its even easier for him to do it now because he can just scroll through our video chats and pick a random name to answer a question. I always get so anxious when he does this because still being new I don’t know the answers to a lot of the questions.

Regardless, Thursday’s lesson was still pretty fun as we got to review land navigation in preparation for the online exam we had after class. Originally, before we were sentenced to stay at home for the rest of the semester, we were going to be tested individually with a map and protractor in front of us as we would find certain grid points, terrain features, and azimuths. Instead, we had an online quiz which just tested us on certain definitions and aspects of the FOXTROT map the army uses. We were also tested on things like what colors correspond to what terrain features: ex- blue is water, green is vegetation, red/black is man-made features, etc. I’m not a big fan of land navigation because I’m not the best with maps and directions so its hard for me to keep up with the new things we constantly learn.

Physical Fitness

One of the biggest things the cadre keep stressing to us is making sure we are all staying physically fit, especially now that gyms and other workout areas have started to close. We’ve had to go back to the basics like running outside, doing push-ups and sit-ups, and trying to weight train on our own. I have enjoyed running outside, as I’m used to it from cross country, but the thing I miss the most is working out in a group where there’s already a set plan and everyone’s motivating one another. It’s definitely going to be hard to try and stay motivated on my own for 5 months, but I know if I continue to push myself I can make it work.

“Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so never give up on yourself.” – Khalid

Class

These past two weeks in class, we have been primarily focused with all the characteristics that make up a good leader. Obviously, every cadet in this program is working towards being a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army, and it is important to recognize the responsibilities that come with this role.

As a leader, you have to be 100% confident in yourself while also being confident in your team and trusting that they know what they’re doing. In order to help you and them achieve this trust, you have to learn more about them and what they need to succeed. When you’re trying to get your team to understand something, one thing you have to consider is not everyone learns and understands things in the same way. They each have different learning abilities. Some are visual learners, who learn best by seeing demonstrations and videos while others are auditory (verbal) learners who learn best by listening to an explanation. You also have your kinesthetic learners, who don’t do the best in a classroom setting and would rather be getting hands-on experience to best understand what they are supposed to learn. By understanding your team and providing the best environment possible for them ensures you are on your way to being a great leader.

Lab

Lab this week was a pretty fun one as we were at the National Guard Base on Thursday (the most beautiful spring day of the week!) Here, we learned more about weaponization and how to do a clear and functions check on the weapons we were handling.

The first weapon we handled was an M240 Bravo, and here we broke in to teams and practiced doing these routine checks so we could ensure nothing was loaded into the weapon and that every part was working like its supposed to. These weapons were set up on tripods, so we also learned how to adjust the weapons up and down (elevation) and side to side (traverse) when they were on these stands. There’s a little lever at the bottom of the tripod for each function which is how you adjust the direction and height. Next, we practiced how to assemble and dissemble the weapon from the tripod easily and in a hurry to practice if we were actually in the field and needed to move positions quickly. If under fire, the team on a single M240 Bravo would consist of 3 people: the gunner firing the weapon, a person on the left loading the ammo into the weapon, and someone positions slightly on top of the gunner signaling directly in front of them where to position the weapon. The thing about firing at such a high speed is that normally there’s a lot of smoke that occurs which is why it is beneficial to have someone directing the fire so that the gunner only has to focus on pulling the trigger and looking at the direction of their hands.

Overall, it was a really fun lab to start getting hands-on experience with some of the weapons we might come across down the road. I think it’s extremely important to start familiarizing ourselves with these weapons now so that we have as much time possible to learn even more about all the aspects the military intends to teach us.