Colony JROTC students participate in leadership challenge on JBER

A total of 43 students from the Colony JROTC program participated in the JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge (JCLC) on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) for the week of May 26-31.

The camp not only provides the cadets a look into what military life is like, it pushes them and challenges them to overcome obstacles that they may encounter in life.

“It’s mostly designed to push the cadets out of their comfort zone physically and mentally,” Colony JROTC Army Instructor Sergeant First Class Peter Trevino, US Army (Retired), said.

Each day of camp started at 5 a.m. and cadets, along with their instructors and five stellar parent volunteers, would change and participate in physical training before regrouping and marching to chow hall for breakfast. Cadets would then get dressed into uniform to begin the day’s training. The day would wrap up around 5 p.m. and students had a chance to play outdoor sports, prepare for their drill and ceremony competition and practice their skits that they would perform at the end of the camp.

The first activity of the week was the Leadership Reaction Course, a small obstacle course that is designed to be accomplished as a group. Cadets learned how to work as a team and were paired with cadets from other schools that attended JCLC. Some of the tasks were nonverbal, pushing the students to come up with ways to communicate effectively and achieve a shared goal.

“When you pair them with someone they’ve never been paired with before, or a stranger from a different school, it forces them outside of their comfort zone,” SFC (R) Trevino said. “That’s the object of the leader’s reaction course, is how do you accomplish a task, verbally or nonverbally, and make it through the obstacle.”

Other activities included a water training exercise at the Buckner Pool on JBER. Cadets participated in a swim test, and proficient swimmers practiced swimming in fatigues for the length of the pool. Cadets also had the opportunity to step off of the 10-meter diving board followed by swimming the length of the pool.

One of the most challenging and beneficial activities of the week was the 34-foot jump tower exercise, simulating training performed by paratroopers. Cadets had the opportunity to step off of the tower, wearing a full harness attached to a pulley system, and swing down to the bottom similar to that of a zip line. While the exercise was completely safe and controlled, many of the cadets had to face their fears of stepping into the unknown.

“They have to take that step out of the tower themselves,” SFC (R)Trevino said. “Encouraging them to take that leap and trusting that your equipment is going to work, that’s one of the biggest parts for a paratrooper that we have to learn… we have to trust our equipment and then we have to trust our training.”

Both SFC (R) Trevino and MAJ (R) Richey encouraged the cadets that they would be safe and were patient with the process the cadets went through to overcome those fears.

“We’re encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone, we’re encouraging them that everything’s going to be ok, that their equipment is going to work,” SFC (R) Trevino said. “Really, it’s just that push.”

MAJ (R) Richey explained that one student knocked on their barracks door one evening to thank SFC (R) Trevino for encouraging him to overcome his fear of stepping out of the tower and participating in the exercise with his peers.

“I think what we did with the tower was one of the more important, developing-type events because there’s nothing natural about walking out of a door from 34 feet off the ground,” MAJ (R) Richey said.

Other activities included an obstacle course that was both physically and mentally challenging, and a two-hour-long C-17 flight from JBER to Fairbanks. Cadets got to experience what it was like to have the door of the plane open at 5000 feet, something most wouldn’t get to experience otherwise.

JCLC and the JROTC program don’t just provide good experiences for cadets that plan to pursue a career in the military, it benefits everyone that attends, SFC (R) Trevino explained.

“Our goal in JROTC isn't to push them to military life,” SFC (R) Trevino said. “It’s just to show them that they can grow past and experience some things in their life and push past it.”

Instructors Trevino and Richey use the camp as an opportunity to determine which cadets will perform in leadership roles in the following year. Cadets are very appreciative of the opportunities and the experience as they challenge themselves at JCLC, Richey said.

“Camp is an opportunity for cadets to come out of their comfort zones and learn new things about themselves,” MAJ (R) Richey said. “We see that process happening right in front of our eyes.”

Other high schools with Army JROTC programs in attendance were Dimond High School, East High School, Bartlett High School and Bethel Regional High School. JCLC also Incorporated Service High School’s NJROTC program. Other high schools with AFJROTC programs operated independently.

Both SFC (R) Trevino and MAJ (R) Richey expressed their appreciation for the members of the national guard and active-duty soldiers who hosted some of the camp activities and worked with the cadets to challenge themselves. They also said how much they appreciated the support of the five parent chaperones that spent the entire week with the students.

“They put in their own personal vacation time to come out and help us,” MAJ (R) Richey said. “It just would not have been as safe or as successful if it wasn't for those five amazing parents that gave up their time to spend it with us all week.”