Posted on April 21, 2008
During Leaders Training Course, participants stay in barracks with 50 to 60 people sleeping in one room, or “bay.” Individuals are fed in a cafeteria and eat anything from spaghetti to hamburgers to roast beef. Particpants are allowed outside communication, and there are usually a few personal days, all while receiving college credit.
Free college credit without scholarships seems like an oxymoron. Getting paid to receive that credit seems like a dream. But, this dream is within easy reach for the majority of JMU students and no essays, contests or military obligation required.
“They get a lot of feedback so they know their strengths and weaknesses, and that’s very valuable for almost any career path, not just ROTC,” said ROTC instructor Capt. Lesley Kipling.
Sophomore Sarah Francis knew when she transferred to JMU last fall that she wanted to join the Army ROTC program. To be on track for her junior year, she signed up to attend the LTC offered in the summer through ROTC.
The Leaders Training Course is not just for future soldiers. Any sophomores or juniors with at least a 2.0 GPA can go to LTC, as well as graduating seniors who meet the GPA requirement and are planning to attend graduate school. There are no prerequisites, military background or military future required.
LTC is designed to teach rising juniors, who have an interest in joining ROTC, all the basics they would have learned during their freshman and sophomore years in an ROTC program. For 28 days, participants learn teamwork, confidence and their own strengths and weaknesses as a leader.
Participants can walk away as civilians, never signing a contract. According to JMU ROTC instructor, Capt. Lesley Kipling, one of the goals of LTC is to provide civilian students an opportunity to see what the Army is like and think about the Army as a possible career path.
Held at Ft. Knox Army base in Kentucky, the course costs nothing for participants. The U.S. Army pays for all travel, lodging, and food expenses, including gas money students spend getting to and from airports.
But, this is not your ordinary classroom lecture, and scantron tests will not be handed out. Rappelling down towers, practicing capsizing drills and learning to fire an M-16 are just some of the ‘assignments’ given to LTC participants.
As of Tuesday, five JMU students have signed up to attend LTC this summer; three males and two females.
Last year, eight JMU students seized the opportunity to attend LTC. At the end, four students contracted with the military, and four continued with their civilian lives.
According to Kipling, JMU ROTC advertises throughout campus using flyers, mass-emails to sophomores with a 2.5 GPA or higher, table tents in the dining rooms, and advertisements inside buses.
“A lot of times we’ll get a student to take a class as an elective and then they hear about LTC and about contracting [with the military] and that’s when they take the next step,” Kipling said.
Even without a career in the military, LTC can provide an invaluable experience. Kipling said that while at LTC, students are evaluated on 16 different Army Leadership dimensions such as interpersonal skills, emotions and self-control under pressure, decision-making and motivational skills.
“They get a lot of feedback so they know their strengths and weaknesses, and that’s very valuable for almost any career path, not just ROTC,” she said.
Current JMU junior and ROTC student, William Fastenau, attended LTC in the summer of 2007.
“You learn how to deal with people you’ve never met before,” Fastenau said. “You learn Army values like leadership, respect, integrity and personal courage, and even if you don’t join the military you can use these in your everyday life. You learn so much about yourself, like what you can do with a lack of sleep. It’s cool.”
ROTC faculty and students ensure that this is not basic training for cadets. Although LTC is designed to prepare students for an ROTC program, ROTC students enter the military as officers- and officers do not go through the same basic training as enlisted service members.
