Leader's Training Course

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That’s all, folks!: Final company graduates

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Posted on July 28, 2011 by PAO

Delta Company Cadets present the colors Thursday at the final graduation of LTC 2011. Photo by Sammy Jo Hester/LTC PAO

By Noelle Wiehe
Staff writer

It is finished.

Delta Company closed out the 2011 Leader’s Training Course Thursday, with 195 Cadets marching across Brooks Field for graduation. In all, nearly 800 students from across the country graduated the course this summer.

With a few hundred people looking on, Col. Eric Winkie, the LTC commander, looked out from his reviewing stand at the Cadets, the sun shining on them, and proclaimed: “What a great day to be a Soldier at Fort Knox.”

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Delta member dedicated to Army before training

Posted on July 27, 2011 by PAO

Delta Company Cadet Sarah Duncan helped start an organization at Florida Tech to support military veterans. Photo by Sammy Jo Hester/LTC PAO

By Sara Nahrwold
Staff writer
Starting a campus group from scratch is no easy feat, but Delta Company Cadet Sarah Duncan knew what she wanted to do when she co-founded Florida Tech Students Supporting Troops this past spring.

“I was engaged to an enlisted Soldier, and I wanted to show him that I supported him and I knew there were other friends of mine who had family members overseas so we wanted to support them,” she said. “There’s no group on campus that did anything for them.”

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WW II re-enactments offer military exposure before training

Posted on July 27, 2011 by PAO

Delta Company Cadet Tyler Cobb has participated in World War II re-enactments for the past four years. Photo by Sammy Jo Hester/LTC PAO

By Sara Nahrwold
Staff writer
Clad in wool pants, paratrooper boots and a wool blouse, Delta Company Cadet Tyler Cobb hiked around the side of a mountain with full gear and through about a foot of snow in Pennsylvania.

The 18-year-old from Marion Military Institute has been participating in World War II re-enactments for the past four years.

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Safety represents cadre member’s job, passion

Posted on July 26, 2011 by PAO

By Noelle Wiehe
Staff writer

Watching over more than 800 Cadets on an Army post each summer is a considerable task. Just ask Lt. Col. Pat Johnson, whose focus is keeping them safe.

“Safety is the number one priority of this whole camp,” he said. “We want to train Cadets, but we want to train them safely.”

Johnson has been the LTC safety officer the past nine years. To keep coming back, he splits the job with another officer — Lt. Col. Craig Wells — and mans the office during the course’s second half.
The safety officer’s job is to oversee the moderate risk activities done throughout the course like land navigation and STX (squad tactical exercise) and make sure the proper precautions are being taken to ensure the well-being of the Cadets.

“Any resources that they need, I can usually get,” Johnson said. “If there is something unsafe going on, it goes right to the top of the priority list.”

Lt. Col. Pat Johnson talks to medics about cadre injuries this year at LTC. Photo by Bobby Ellis/LTC PAO

Johnson has been a regular at LTC since 2003. He was originally tasked to be the safety officer at the Army ROTC Leader Development and Assessment Course at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. When he heard a position for saftey officer was open at LTC, he thought to himself, “Hell, I’ve got a little experience doing that.” He has held the position ever since.

Johnson admits he truly loves his job at LTC, and it seems his efforts have helped keep Cadets safe. Only two this summer were sent home due to injuries, one having fractured his tibia at the Fitness Factory and the other having dislocated his shoulder at the Teamwork Development Course.

After such situations, Johnson’s job is to coordinate with the Cadets’ companies, medics who were on site and the Cadet to outline in detailed writing what happened. In the case of the fractured tibia, where the Charlie Co. Cadet could not pivot his planted foot while attempting to jump a hurdle, Johnson’s recommendation to make the site safer by putting down more gravel down which could allow for Cadets’ feet to pivot through pebbles rather than twist against the pavement.

Small details are most pertinent to Cadet safety at training, but those small details can have a big impact. Heat remains one of the biggest threats to safety at LTC.

“Especially when it is really hot and nasty out at moderate risk training sites, that is when I try to get out there and make sure they are hydrating, checking the wet bulb and the cadre are doing all the right things,” said Johnson, an assistant professor of military science at Kansas State University.

The Kentucky heat is what keeps Johnson and the medics attentive because heat injuries are preventable with proper hydration and the work/rest guide laid out in the heat injury prevention guide. Should a heat injury be confirmed, Johnson must help figure out the cumulative factors that might have had a hand in the incident, such as what the Cadet was doing the day before or if he or she was on a medication that might have contributed.

“(Johnson) pays a lot of attention to detail, he asks a lot of questions and he knows all of the different data points which come together to find the root cause of the problem,” said Lt. Col. Mary Krupa, who oversees the Reserve medics participating in LTC this summer. “He is very focused on, not only what occurred, but how to prevent it in the future. He is so proactive in his approach to prevention, and that is what it’s all about.”

Unforeseeable injuries such a lightning strike last year that took one Cadet’s life, however, are what Johnson and others in charge of safety look to prevent in the field. In response to that event, Johnson and the other cadre involved in site safety strategically placed defibrillators throughout the training areas at LTC and ensured medics were trained to use them.

“I’m the only one who has the title, but every cadre here is a safety officer,” he said.

Before Cadets set foot on post, cadre perform timed emergency situation rehearsals to help prepare them for incidents that may require an evacuation or hospital visit. After the lightning incident, Johnson said he and the other cadre pay extremely close attention to the details of the severe weather rehearsal on the sites.

“Rehearsals are key,” Johnson said. “If they get that piece right, it is going to do a lot of good as far as when things start rolling.”

‘Big Country’ gets as much out as he puts in

Posted on July 26, 2011 by PAO

Andre Hearn, a Delta Company Cadet, helps his squad construct a one-rope bridge during stream-crossing training. Photo by Sammy Jo Hester/LTC PAO

By Noelle Wiehe
Staff writer

They call him “Big Country.” And while the nickname might seem obvious to some, as the 6-foot, 5-inch Andre Hearn towers over his fellow Delta Company Cadets, his motivational words and caring deeds stand out even more.

“When the other Cadets start yelling and screaming or we’re talking and they’re not supposed to, he’ll step up,”said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Watts, a Delta Co. drill sergeant.

Hearn is praised by cadre and looked up to by Cadets for always being willing to keep his fellow platoon members motivated throughout the different training events.

A Delta drill sergeant said that during physical training one morning, Hearn finished the run faster than a lot of Cadets in his platoon. Instead of sitting to rest, he went back on the track and ran alongside struggling Cadets to keep them motivated to complete the run.

Born and raised in Shelby County, Ky., Hearn moved from his family to Sonoita, Ariz., last year to attend the New Mexico Military Institute.

Living and working on a farm prepared Hearn for the 4 and 5 a.m. wake-ups at LTC, he said. He admits it is what he has done his whole life; live according to a routine and strict schedule.

As serious as Hearn is about the military, though, his relaxed side has sometimes gotten him into trouble with the LTC cadre.

“I think laughter is one of the most important things in life,” he said. “I couldn’t make it through LTC without laughing at the drill sergeants.”

That same attitude has made Hearn popular among the Cadets throughout his company.

“The other Cadets, they do look up to him, even in the other platoons,” Watts said. “It’s a good sign.”

Hearn has found that the other Cadets often come to him with questions. Even if it is as small as what foot to step on when they call a cadence, he is glad to help.

Though he is not used to looking out for anyone but himself, Hearn is still proud when Cadets benefit from his advice. One Cadet even led a march to the chow hall and chanted a cadence Hearn had taught him.

“I was back there smiling the whole time,” he said. “It makes me feel good that he went out there and was like, ‘I’m going to trust what Hearn said to me.’ ”

At LTC, Hearn feels he fits in. But even he was the recipient of some motivation when it came to events in which he struggled.

He had some trouble with the water events. Living on a farm, Hearn never felt swimming would be valuable to him, seeing as even in a 6-foot deep end he remains above water.

Hearn said when he got to Gammon Pool, where combat water survival training is held, he did not even try the stations but instead went to the three days of remedial swimming where a Delta Co. drill sergeant helped him learn the basics.

“I didn’t really swim,” Hearn said. “I did what we call throw your body through the water.”

In high school, Hearn played football and worked out, so athleticism was not a hurdle he was worried about overcoming. His biggest challenge was inexperience with swimming and being completely submerged in water.

After he felt comfortable in the water, though, he passed every station on his first attempt. He said he feels he has improved and may even start swimming back home.

Hearn also had to overcome his fear of heights to complete the ropes course and the rappel tower. The other Cadets told him it was odd that he was afraid of heights because he is so tall, but Hearn admitted he was scared before scaling the 51-foot tall tower.

Besides overcoming having never swum before and his fear of heights, Hearn is learning a lot about himself at LTC.

“By being here, I found out that I don’t really know how my peers look at me,” he said. “I found out through my cadre and drill sergeants that come up to me and say, ‘Hearn, you’re a bit overbearing,’ or ‘You joke a little bit too much.’ Where I’m from, that’s what we do.”

Having dedicated much of his time recently to the military instead of farming, Hearn wants to make the Army a career.

“He knows what he wants,” Watts said. “It’s very unlikely for a 20-year-old to know exactly what and where he wants to be.”

Hearn plans to spend 30 years in the military and hopes to work his way to the rank of brigadier general. In a short time, he said he has seen how much the military has done for him, so he wants to see how much he can do for the military.

“I’ve seen myself become more controlled when it comes to people,” Hearn said. “Not dealing with a lot of people, coming from a small area, you just have to learn that people are different. They aren’t all the same.

“You have to deal with that, and make it work. That’s my LTC experience.”