With the help of the Indiana Army National Guard, JROTC teens test their skills at Camp Atterbury leadership camp
More than 200 cadets from Indiana Public Schools’ Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps trained at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center as part of the annual JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge.
Aiden Ayala, of Marion High School, rappels down a 45-foot tower at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center during the Indiana Public Schools Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Leadership Challenge at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center July 10. Soldiers from the Indiana Army National Guard's 38th Infantry Division serve as rappel masters and in other roles and functions during the camp.
The program, which has been held at Camp Atterbury for more than 12 years, allows high school students in JROTC programs across the state to participate in military-style training such as rappelling, land navigation, negotiating various obstacle courses and more.
“It provides these kids the opportunity to do a lot of things they aren’t normally able to do in their schools,” said Army Col. David Sholly, director of Army instruction for the Indianapolis Public Schools district. “The typical capstone activity, at least from the kids’ perspective, is a helicopter ride that happens on the last day of camp.”
The camp requires support from several organizations in order to operate. The helicopters that students fly on during the last day are from the Indiana Army National Guard’s 38th Aviation Brigade and rappel masters that teach and facilitate rappelling to the cadets come from the Indian Army Guard’s 38th Infantry Division.
“I can’t say enough about the support we have received for this camp,” said Sholly. “The IGR, however, really deserves special recognition. These guys really made the camp happen and what makes it’s really above and beyond because each and every one of them volunteered to be here.”
According to many of the cadets, getting to know other cadets from all over the state and making new friends throughout the course of the camp was even better than rappelling, running obstacle courses and riding on helicopters.
“Every year is a new opportunity to make new friends,” said Cadet Rebecca Robertson, a junior from Hobart High School. “I’ve stayed in touch with my friends from last year over Facebook, and I signed on to come back as soon as they told me they were coming.”
Robertson hopes to get a great deal more out of the camp than new friends, though. She said the camp has also helped her grow as a person in ways that will serve her well for the rest of her life.
“When you get here your first year, you are thrown in with all sorts of kids from different places and different ways of life and no one knows each other,” said Robertson. “It forces you to keep an open mind, while at the same time teaching you to overcome fears and shyness and take charge even when you’re surrounded by strangers.”
While the program was designed for Army JROTC programs, the camp also invited Marine Corps JROTC cadets from Ben Davis High School on Indianapolis’ west side. Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Thompson, Ben Davis senior Marine Corps instructor, said that he uses the camp as an opportunity to fine-tune cadets in which he sees future leadership potential.
“They are really gracious to invite us here for this camp,” said Thompson. “We have another camp of our own during the summer and then we are also able to take advantage of this one. I typically hand-select kids from my junior class that I think have the most potential for leadership positions in our program during their senior year and I bring them out here so they can get extra leadership training.”
According the Sholly, the camp takes the better part of a year to plan and prepare for. Sholly typically starts planning the next year’s camp as early as September. Every year, he sees the fruits of his labors as he watches students from all over the state gather at Atterbury for a week of learning, personal growth, and fun.
“The people at Atterbury that we have worked with, and this holds true for the whole Indiana National Guard, have always strived to help us in every way they can,” said Sholly. “If our requests are reasonable, I never have any doubt that they will be met, and so our students have been able to enjoy the best camp we could put together for them for the last several years.”
Source: U.S. National Guard
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