Junior ROTC cadets go knees to the breeze

  • Published
  • By Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Winstead
  • 4-25 ABCT Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Clad in combat fatigues and boots, the team faced a day of combat drills, convoy operations training, a small matter of being flipped over in a tumbling Humvee and, to top it all off, a jump from a 34-foot tower designed to break people of their natural fear of heights.

These young men and women weren't even Soldiers. In fact, they weren't even out of high school yet.

They were 30 students from the Eagle River High School's Junior ROTC program who teamed up with 10 active-duty paratroopers from 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment to spend a day of intense training on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The students and paratroopers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-501st worked together under the U.S. Army Alaska School Partnership Program.

The cadets started the day with the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000, an electronic virtual simulation trainer which allows for a realistic feeling of using military weapons without the use of live ammunition or battlefield hazards.

Unloaded weapons were attached to a modified air compressor which gives a safe yet realistic feel for weapon recoil when fired. The recoil is realistic enough, that it elicited surprised yelps from several of the students.

"(The EST 2000) helps soldiers train for convoy combat and allows them to train on maintaining their sectors of fire during mounted engagements with the enemy," said Gwuana Thomas, a technician who operates the training device.
 
"But I think the students are just having a good time with it."

Next, the cadets tried out a Humvee rollover trainer; a simulator which safely prepares Soldiers to react in the event of a vehicle turnover.

The rollover training system allowed up to four students to sit inside of a special compartment built to replicate a military Humvee.

This compartment is attached to special hydraulic system which can rotate the mock vehicle to the left and right through a full 360 degree range of motion until it is upside down.

The students were safely "flipped" and taught how to exit both from the side of the vehicle, even when completely inverted.

"Even if they are never in a combat situation where they flip their vehicle, this is excellent training for their own cars," said Allison Carbaugh, the simulation leader for the EST 2000. "The basics work pretty much the same on every like-sized vehicle, so this is a good learning point no matter what gets flipped over."

After a lunch at the Gold Rush Inn, the cadets were taken to an airborne sustainment training area and given a class on the use and purpose of the 34-foot jump training tower.

The towers, used to practice exiting an aircraft, are a common fixture at many military installations with airborne units.

Sgt. 1st Class Brad Shedd, mortar platoon sergeant for HHC 1-501st, instructed the students on how to wear the modified parachute harness and how to safely exit the tower.
 
Once completed, the students were allowed to "rig up" and climb the stairs of the tower and exit under the supervision of the team of qualified jumpmasters.

"I enjoy the fact that I have the chance to provide these students with the opportunity to experience some of these things," said Shedd, whose daughter was among the Eagle River JROTC cadets.

"I screamed like a maniac when I jumped out of that thing!" said the student group leader, Cadet Major Aurora Dordan, of her jump-tower experience. "I also liked the simulation lane."

Dordan said she plans to continue her education after high school, attend the University of Alaska Anchorage, and join the military as a linguist.