Cadets gazed into the intoxicating view of autumn foliage protecting serene ponds and streams as their Swiss seats were snapped into the rope that moments later would be their best friend. The experts at the top of the cliff coached the rappellers into the proper "L" shaped position. The cadets then looked over one of their shoulders, picked a few bounding spots on the cliff's face, and simultaneously threw their brake hand away from their back and jumped outward from the cliff. At that point in mid air, when the soles of their combat boots touched only the gentle breeze, those rappelling cadets experienced the thrill of Operation Daring Plunge.
Ever heard the phrase, "The Army does more before 9:00 AM than most people do all day"? Well... On that same Saturday cadets also competed in squad competition. A squad is basically a nine-member team. Each squad learned how to move every member of its team across a river by constructing and traveling over one-rope and two-rope bridges. For the mock grenade assault course, each cadet ran, high crawled, low crawled, rolled, and tumbled through an obstacle course with several targets at which to throw fake grenades along the way, individual and squad awards were distributed in a ceremony at the end of the day. To round off the training, every cadet learned how to find points in the woods using only a compass.
The biggest thrill for the senior cadets was not only rappelling, but the opportunity to plan the entire day's training for forty first, second, and third-year cadets. The seniors planned the sequence of events, coordinated for equipment, buses, food, water, and medical support (which was not used by the way!). Senior cadets also supervised, ensured safety precautions were met, and conducted the training.
Army ROTC challenges cadets almost one weekend each month per semester. The cadets learn teamwork, valuable planning and organizational skills, develop and improve their oral presentation and communication skills, fine-tune their judgment, initiative, and problem analysis abilities in an active, exciting environment. Army ROTC not only builds soldiers, it develops leaders much needed in both military and civilian careers.