Five men in desert camouflage appear suddenly on the blind side of a curve on a dusty road in the hills north of Utah Lake, their flat-black rifles slung at their sides.
“Road patrol training,” explains Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Stephen Harmon, as he slows his truck and nods to the group.
Groups of trainees, dressed for combat and practicing the skills of battle, are gathered in various spots across the sprawling grounds of Camp Williams near Riverton.
The facility is comprised of 28,000 acres that offer a variety of terrain and a camp complex that can house 2,800 troops. This weekend, members of the U’s Army ROTC group — the Ute Warrior Battalion — are engaged in an intense three-day training mission known as an FTX, or Field Training Exercise.
At one of the many weapons ranges at the camp, a group of about 30 cadets prepares for an exercise known as basic rifle marksmanship. The range consists of target posts, placed 25 meters from round concrete “foxholes” surrounded by sandbags. As the cadets are issued weapons and ammunition, Harmon, a senior nursing major at Westminster, describes the goal of the training.
“The first goal of weapons training is safety…safety first and foremost,” Harmon said.
He noted that the cadets represent a wide variety of experience levels. Some have seen active duty, while others have never fired their weapon, an M16A2 assault rifle. All cadets, however, have passed a weapons class in which they are taught how to handle, disassemble and troubleshoot their rifle.
Master Sgt. Louis Barnum directs the exercise, issuing explicit directions through his bullhorn to the cadets on the firing line. The first step is to “zero” their weapons. The cadets fire three shots at a “zeroing” target. This target is designed to indicate what sight adjustments are necessary for each cadet’s shooting technique.
After the initial three shots, the cadets lay down their rifles, and everyone on the firing line — which includes the cadets and safety officers — walks to the targets to evaluate their accuracy.
“I am the greatest,” exclaims one cadet on seeing his first grouping. Cadet Andrew Pettison, a junior in sociology, has placed all three shots within the inch-and-a-half circle in the center of the target.
Captain Max Hanna explains that this exercise is conducted in the same manner at every Army training facility. He said it is their goal to instill the practice of safe weapon handling to the point that it is “second nature.” Hanna also notes that weapons training is ongoing and as important for longtime officers as it is for new cadets.
After the cadets adjust their rifles, they fire at a marksmanship target, which tests their accuracy for ever-smaller targets.
Another training station at Camp Williams is the Leadership Reactionary Course. This course consists of stations of physical obstacles that must be overcome in a specified time to complete mini-missions. The stations have intimidating names like “Crossing a Deep Gorge with Ammo Can,” “Moving Over a Minefield to Recover Ammo” and “Getting Up a Forward Observation Post.”
The U’s Army ROTC commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jack Sturgeon, noted that the goal of the exercise is not necessarily to successfully complete the mission, but to test leadership skills and the ability of a team and its leader to address the challenge in a cohesive, focused manner.
The physical challenges of the course are designed so that a team approach offers the only possibility of success. Simple items like steel bars, ramps and ropes — most of which require several people to lift — are the only implements provided to accomplish the missions. These, along with the cadets’ ingenuity and cooperation, are the tools of success.
Cadet Andrew Fulton, a junior and exercise sports science major, took part in the exercises on Saturday.
“You have a plan in mind,” he said. “When that first plan doesn’t work, you have to do a 180 to deal with a problem…and know that the clock is ticking.”
Fulton was a team leader on one of the course missions, and a team member on another. He said overall his team received high marks on their performance.
The weekend training was Fulton’s third FTX, and he said he is looking forward to the next one, which will happen in the spring.
