
Echo Company Cadets salute during their graduation ceremony, which marked not only the end of their own training, but the end of the 2012 Leader’s Training Course. Jacob Hill/PAO
By Katie Lever
Staff writer
The 2012 Leader’s Training Course drew to a close Friday morning with Echo Company’s graduation, LTC’s fifth and final company. Rain forced the ceremony indoors — the first time a graduation hasn’t been held outside since 2005 — but couldn’t stop the event and dampen the excitement.
“As an infantryman, I would have liked to have it in the rain,” Maj. Gen. Jefforey Smith, the graduation guest speaker told Cadets sitting inside Waybur Theater. “But we care about these Cadets so much we didn’t want them to get wet.”
On a more serious note, Smith, the commanding general for U.S. Army Cadet Command, commended the 150 Echo Cadets for their hard work and sacrifice. Continue reading


