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Matthew AmlingNews WritingSept. 25 2010ROTC StorySCRANTON- Nay Aug Park acted as the training grounds for America’s future leaders Thursday.The University of Scranton Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program prepared its cadets for future challenges with a day of training at Nay Aug Park. The day offered classroom and physical learning for ROTC students attending training at Fort Indian Town Gap this weekend. Scranton’s ROTC program will be joined by ROTC programs from King’s College, Marywood University, Penn State, Wilkes University, and East Strausburg University for training at Fort Indiantown Gap in Hershey. Students will spend the weekend learning the values of leadership and team work. Thursday’s program at Nay Aug Park was designed to prepare students for this experience. The program consisted of classroom instruction, which included map reading, plot pointing, and working and understanding meter grids. ROTC students also received physical training from the program’s juniors and seniors, who are referred to as MS-3s and MS-4s. “I absolutely love the ROTC program, today has been a great experience for my future,” a freshman ROTC student, Francis Ambrico, said. “ROTC is a stress reliever for me, and it was something I have always wanted to do.”Ambrico has hopes of entering the army in a cavalry or artillery position. Many ROTC students like Ambrico have hopes of a possible field in the military but their rank is determined by the work they put in to ROTC. The bulk of ROTC training is in preparation for a summer leadership trip to Fort Lewis, Wash. Students attend the Fort Lewis training in between their MS-3 and MS-4 years, which are their junior and senior years of school. The training is a 30-day assessment of students’ physical performance. The program really looks for how well cadets can react in pressure situations. Cadets’ rank in the military is determined by their performance at Fort Lewis.The training program Thursday counted for the students’ lab, which is a weekly commitment for ROTC. According to ROTC students, the weekly commitment for ROTC is three Physical Training (PT) sessions, which take place at 6:30 a.m., one ROTC class and one lab. PT sessions take place at Fitzpatrick Field, the Steamtown Mall parking garage, and at the Byron Center. On top of the weekly commitment to ROTC, students who received ROTC scholarships are required to serve four years of active military service, and four years of either active or non-active service. Cadets can serve non-active years in various reserve programs. “ROTC is a huge commitment but it offers many benefits,” MS-4 cadet, Ryan Snyder, said.” “The program gives you extra motivation in life and in school. Sometimes we fight but we always pull together as a unit, this way in the future we can react under various conditions.”Cadet Snyder is an MS-4 in the University’s ROTC program. Snyder qualified for active duty at the leadership training at Fort Lewis this past summer. Snyder desires to work in field artillery in the military but he knows that he will do whatever the army asks of him. According to Snyder there are 16 branches a soldier can enter in the military.Although working together, ROTC students are always trying to balance teamwork and competition against one another. This is demonstrated at the leadership training in Washington where cadets are qualifying for active duty and it is shows even when cadets are still in their MS-1 and MS-2 years. The University of Scranton ROTC program has a single spot for students to participate in summer training. The training is held at schools such as the Airborne School in Georgia and the Air Assault School in Kentucky, as well as many others. The opportunity is a huge motivation for students and it is a goal that cadets strive to obtain. “There is so much motivation in attending a summer school, it motivates you to do as well as you can in field training exercises and in the classroom,” senior Chris Mead, said. “You have to do well in school and in lab, as well as your PT programs.”Mead attended the Airborne school in Georgia in between his MS-1 and MS-2 years. Mead desires to enter the military in a jump status infantry position and said that a student should have a 3.5 GPA or higher in order to attend one of these schools. There is a great amount of competition present in ROTC training, even while students are learning how to work together. Thursday was just another program designed to help these students prepare themselves for assessment against other ROTC students around the country, in an ultimate goal of protecting our country. -30- ................
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