Posted on Feb 23, 2016
How do you deal with Cadets/Officer Candidates in your unit?
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In various functions you may find a Cadet/Officer Candidate/Midshipman in your unit. I know that West Point sends their Cadets to units to get exposure to how officers function in the field. Also, ROTC units send their cadets to reserve units. I am not sure about the Reserves but I know in the Guard they have a program in which soldiers that contract with the Army will drill with their previous Guard unit in order to gain exposure much the same way as West Point.
I have seen this occur over and over again. I can't really say I have seen a consistent approach to this. Some of my acquaintances that attended West Point had a great experience while I have seen some Cadets not find the same to be true.
Has your active duty or reserve unit dealt with this? What have you seen to be some of the better practices to have or to avoid?
If you are a cadet what have you dealt with if you did participate with a unit? What would you recommend going forward as to aid future cadets?
I have seen this occur over and over again. I can't really say I have seen a consistent approach to this. Some of my acquaintances that attended West Point had a great experience while I have seen some Cadets not find the same to be true.
Has your active duty or reserve unit dealt with this? What have you seen to be some of the better practices to have or to avoid?
If you are a cadet what have you dealt with if you did participate with a unit? What would you recommend going forward as to aid future cadets?
Cadet
USMA
OCS
Army National Guard
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 33
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Mentor them as you would any young officer! They are our future leaders always keep that in the back of your mind.
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When I was a BN CSM the commander basically made them the platoon leader for the duration of their CTLT. I ensured the enlisted Soldiers treated them the same as a commissioned officer, I mean they are going to be commissioned eventually. I know the whole "they are just college kids/cadets", the proper way to address a cadet is cadet, blah blah blah. The purpose of CTLT is for the cadet to experience what it's going to be like when they are commissioned and are charged with leading Soldiers. They should be treated accordingly.
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CMSgt (Join to see)
CSM (Join to see) -
Are you sure you didn't stand over them and steal young souls? ;)
Are you sure you didn't stand over them and steal young souls? ;)
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CSM (Join to see)
CMSgt (Join to see) truthfully there was this one kid that was just all kinds of chewed up. He was carrying canned raviolis, IPad, hard cover books and other nonsense in his rucksack. He kept falling out on the ingress to the objective. Let's just say I gave him some professional guidance as the Soldiers assaulted the objective. He went and saw Doc after the AAR and before he went back to his school thanked me for the valuable instruction in Individual Movement Techniques. ;)
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We get the CTLT from West Point every summer. We put them with a platoon leader so that they can "shadow" that officer to see what day-to-day operations are like. We also give them tasks like a simple OPORD, PT session, etc. At the end of the process the BN CDR gives them an OER. Be careful about matching them up with the right platoon leader. Don't pair one up with "that guy"....there is one on every unit.
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