Recently, the U.S. Army launched the U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Cadet Summer Training (CST), the army’s largest leader development course. CST is a rigorous, four-week exercise that will push nearly 9,000 cadets through training regiments before the final graduation ceremony on August 13.
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According to Army.mil, as part of the army’s plan to adapt the leadership training to meet the needs of today’s future leaders, each training program has undergone a name change to better align the training goals with their end states.
“I can think of no greater honor than laying the foundation for the future leaders of America in the profession of arms.”said Col. Blaine Hedges, commandant for Cadet Summer Training, during an interview with Army.mil. “The objective of CST is for the cadets to leave Fort Knox better prepared than when they arrived. We’re here to create leaders for life.”
Hedges also explained that the army has assembled the largest “pick-up team” in a training environment, and that the key to cadet success is engaged leadership. With this in mind, this summer more than 4,500 highly-skilled active duty and reserve soldiers will work side by side and assist in preparing future leaders by providing training in first-aid, basic rifle marksmanship, tactical leadership, live fire and land navigation, among others.
Here are a few additional training updates:
- CIET replaces Leader Training Course as an outcome-driven training event that trains and educates cadets on select basic military skills, from individual tasks to squad level, and continues to build a foundation to establish the critical thinking skills necessary to become an army officer.
- Replacing Leader Development and Assessment Course, CLC is a “capstone” summer training event that all ROTC cadets must complete between their junior and senior years. Each cadet arrives at CLC with baseline knowledge of military skills and will have developed critical thinking and problem-solving abilities during their time in college. During the summer, the cadets will focus on solving complex problems at the company-level and will develop their small-unit leadership ability in a tactical environment.
Read more at Army.mil….