Stopping by to visit a JROTC camp in full motion

  • Published
  • By Mary Lou Gorny
  • Hilltop Times Editor
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  Maj. Kit Workman, Clearfield High School JROTC instructor, and Lt. Blake Evans, stopped long enough on Thursday to review some of what had been going on throughout the week as the students from Clearfield, Northridge, West, Dixie and Provo high schools participated in an exercise.

Workman explained that the first two days the cadets learned to integrate and had classroom instruction.

Evans praised the Airman Leadership School for assisting in that aspect and all the company grade officers who helped out.

1st Lt. Trung Nguyen designed a disaster emergency exercise in which half of the group had an opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills in a scenario that took up half of the day. The other group toured the base. Then the groups switched.

"I have been doing this for 18 years," said Workman. "It is fun watching them grow, being able to influence them -- that motivates me."

He noted that his most satisfying experiences as a mentor are watching students change their lives. He has had many great experiences with students, but one that stands out is a former gang member who took JROTC a number of years ago, and instead of heading to jail, graduated from school, moved out of state, became a youth counselor, got a college degree and now works in health administration. Workman notes the young man is now a husband and a father and is a contributing member of society.

Some of the cadets stopped by the leadership tent and responded to questions about their experiences at camp.

Cadet Senior Chief Master Sgt. Raquel Harris from West High School said she was enjoying the camp as she got to learn more about leadership, and getting a better idea of what being in the military is like.

"A lot of my family has been in the military and I've always been fascinated with it," said Harris. "I want to go into the investigative (side of things) but I also want to serve my country so I thought this would be the best way to go."

The young cadet had just had foot surgery and was participating in everything she could and just adjusting to it.

She said she thought the experience had stretched her.

Cadet Jr. Lt. Ilan Hammond from West High School especially enjoyed the tour, learning new skills from the CGOs. He thought the thing he learned the most was how to deal with lots of different individuals with different skill levels, and how to help, cooperate and work on a team with all of them.

Hammond participated on his school's Physical Training team and the unarmed inspection drill team and was also an instructor on staff for JROTC.

He explained that serving as a member on a drill team, besides the time spent in class, meant that he was dedicating several hours a week to the team.

Cadet Airman Rhys Meredith from Northridge High School thought he learned a lot from the disaster response scenario. "It was a lot of stress -- definitely a lot of hard work," but he enjoyed it.

"I was one of the fire chiefs. We had to refill the fire extinguishers which were coolers filled with ice and water and then we had to run around and pick up the casualties and bring them back to the medical tent," he explained.

He learned to improvise and would definitely recommend the JROTC experience to others. He participated on the Northridge unarmed drill team and was proud of its accomplishments.

Cadet Lt. Col. Ryan Lowe served as the cadet commander of the group. He was the liaison between the lieutenants and the cadets. "I am in charge of making sure that everybody is present and accounted for," he explained, and that his staff were doing their jobs to make sure the camp is successful. He is from Clearfield High School and will be the group commander and unarmed drill team commander next year.

"This has definitely opened my eyes about the military and I have learned a lot I didn't know before," Rowe said.

He said that he learned a lot about himself, and about how he would respond in a disaster situation in an emergency. He felt this would impact his decision about joining the military.

Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Leann Ginter of Clearfield High School especially liked learning about being on her own and functioning in another environment. "I was a crossing guard (in the emergency disaster situation) and had to make sure everybody crossed the street safely. It was also tough when you had so many people who didn't realize they could cross the street at first but then they finally recognized, 'Oh, we can go get more stuff (to help them) on the other side,' " she said.

Ginter said that she would tell others that if you just put in what you can you get that much back and more from JROTC and would recommend it to others who were on the edge about whether or not to join the JROTC program.

"I didn't think I was that important but I learned everybody is important," Ginter said of her opportunity to learn about the role of leadership in the JROTC camp.

In her experience in the disaster scenario, the guards knew information about what was on the other side of the road that could help, but they couldn't volunteer the information to others. They could answer questions. She said she learned important information about herself from the experience.

The leaders who helped organize the camp, Evans and Workman, explained that after all the exercises the groups were debriefed and they are given information on what they did right and what they didn't do well on.

"The camp has been an excellent experience in self discovery and leadership for these cadets," Workman commented. "The group of junior officers at Hill AFB who organized this camp for us are true professionals and have really changed these cadets' lives."