Training preps UMass ROTC cadets for deployment challenges

2 May 2012 | SrA. Kelly Galloway

Twenty-nine local ROTC underclassmen cadets headed to the base's "Dogpatch" area for field survival and resistance training April 14.

The mission of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst cadets: survive, fight and win. Their scenario: A peaceful but struggling village, under constant "attack" by senior cadets, not far from the cadets' base camp.

Their training comprised team building skills, learning self-aid buddy care , understanding fire teams, coordination among each other to reach common goals. And survival, said Lt. Col. Scott Huber Detachment 370 commander.

To enhance the realism of being deployed to an overseas location, the underclassmen spent the night in defensive fighting positions.

The goal of the ROTC training at Westover was to provide an experience of what these cadets will face when they head to several locations in Alabama, including Maxwell Air Force Base.