Liberty ROTC students learn leadership
By Rick Haverinen
It’s not easy being cool when it’s 95 degrees and the humidity is spiking.
But cool pretty much describes last week at the Junior ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) camp to promote leadership at Fort Eustis, Va.
“You learn a lot here. I thought it was pretty cool,” said Amanda Murtha, 15, a sophomore cadet from Colonial Forge High School in Stafford.
Murtha was referring to the camp experience rather than the temperature, of course.
And when you're dealing with teenagers, cool is important.
Nearly 290 high school JROTC cadets from 23 Virginia high schools as far north as Alexandria met July 18-24 at Fort Eustis to work on their drill and ceremony skills, land navigation, first aid, and aquatic skills, including drowning prevention.
They also participated in sports. Confidence-building activities at the annual JROTC Leadership Development Challenge included the Army Soldiers’ obstacle course, a teamwork reaction course, and Ranger skills such as snaking one’s self along while suspended below a taut rope strung between trees.
“This camp is putting it all together,” said Lt. Col. (retired) John O’Sullivan, the Senior Army Instructor at Liberty High School in Bealeton. “The classroom and the drill-floor experience, where they’re interacting not [exclusively] with their friends, but with kids from Southside Virginia, from Newport News, Northern Neck, all over the place. So if [a cadet] can deal with complete strangers and provide leadership, it’s one of the capstones.”
“Children don’t have a choice what family they are born into,” said Col. (retired) Charles Thornton, the camp’s commander. “If you look at a map of Virginia, there are some communities that are 90-100 percent one ethnic group. They’re either purely rural or suburban or inner city or urban or whatever. This camp allows us to mix those various backgrounds. The biggest growth out of camp is the socialization process, when we sort of force our kids out of their comfort zone. Sure enough, the end of those seven days together has brought about dramatic changes.”
“We’re all working together and learning different things,” said Chelsea Miles, 16, a cadet and junior at Liberty High, “and we have to come together to try and understand how to march correctly by the book, because not everybody does that.”
For the complete story, pick up a copy of the Aug. 1 Fauquier Weekend.