TodayROTC cadets fly out for training
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ROTC cadets from Shippensburg University stand outside the CH-47 Chinook troop transport helicopter that will take them to West Virginia for training. The helicopter landed at Shippensburg Township's Britton Road park Thursday. Dale Heberlig/Special to The Sentinel
About 20 Shippensburg University ROTC students clad in camo crept across marshy ground along Britton Road Thursday afternoon, deployed in a defensive perimeter and hunkered down to wait for their helicopter.
The exercise was step one in a three-day “train up” to help prepare for a leadership summer camp in Washington state later this year.
The SU cadets will join student soldiers from four other colleges at Camp Dawson in the western hills of West Virginia for a field training exercise that runs through Sunday.
Shortly after the CH-47 Chinook troop transport helicopter touched down, the SU cadets were aboard ” lined up in seated positions after boarding through a rear gangway. The cramped quarters accommodate 32 passengers, said Lt. Gene Mizdail of the SU ROTC unit.
Big Spring grad
Twenty-year-old Jack Reed, a 2005 graduate of Big Spring High School, made the chopper trip two years ago in a support role.
He has an idea what to expect of the flight.
“After take-off, you just sit back and enjoy the ride,” Reed says. “I’ll be thinking about the training we’ll do when we get there.”
Reed says he has at least a five-year commitment to the U.S. Army after graduation. He says he wants to work as an Army engineer.
“I have at least two years before active duty,” he says. “I want to marry my sweetheart, Danielle Newcomer, and see what happens after that.”
Leadership drills
Ben Brown, a 20-year-old from Glen Rock in York County, said he was keyed up for the weekend mission.
A veteran of an Airborne school last summer, Brown says, “I’m excited, and a little nervous. We’ll be switching from one leadership skill to another for four days. You don’t want to screw up in leadership drills.”
