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When I was an instructor, I had an opportunity to be an official observer of the an ROTC Ranger Challenge at a nearby RTI. Many of the regional colleges fielded a team for the challenge. Also included was a Marine Corp ROTC team. They were ineligible for any trophy but competed just for the challenge.
I was manning the Land Nav Station. I would give a quick brief, hand out protractors, compasses and maps and start the time. When the Marines came over, I gave the brief, let them plot their points. I was about to give them their compasses when the group leader said "we're Marines Sergeant..we don't need compasses!" and proceeded to head out. The cadre Captain came over to ask how they were doing. I said, "well Sir let me put it this way...Your cadets went that way; the course is that way!", pointing in the opposite direction. The Captain just shook his head, thanked me and walked off.
My intention is to make this fun. Please don't turn this into a flame war.
I was manning the Land Nav Station. I would give a quick brief, hand out protractors, compasses and maps and start the time. When the Marines came over, I gave the brief, let them plot their points. I was about to give them their compasses when the group leader said "we're Marines Sergeant..we don't need compasses!" and proceeded to head out. The cadre Captain came over to ask how they were doing. I said, "well Sir let me put it this way...Your cadets went that way; the course is that way!", pointing in the opposite direction. The Captain just shook his head, thanked me and walked off.
My intention is to make this fun. Please don't turn this into a flame war.
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Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 15
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When I was with 10th Mountain, we would go down to West Point to to train the Cadidiots. We would play OPFOR after training them on basic Infantry tactics. Generally we would sit on caches and defend them when they would come around. We also played Gorilla type warfare too. One day a buddy and I were set out on LPOP to watch an intersection. While sitting there, we had a squad size group approach our position within a few feet. There was no OC with them which was a bit strange but we continued to observe. They sat down right in front of us and broke out their maps and protractors. They began to shift their ruck sacks off their shoulders and get a bit comfortable. You could see the RTO trying to make comms with no luck. So at one point we decided we had the upper hand and we were going to attack. We safety killed them and stole their maps and freqs before "Z"ing out their radios. Pretty dick move now that I'm thinking about it, and specially knowing after the fact they were lost. They kept asking us for help, we just asked for their West Point rank to wear on our boonies and moved back into the woods to link up with our squad. Later that evening after our squad leader came back from the leaders meeting he came to us and began asking questions about the cadets that we encountered. Apparently they have been lost for a day and a half wondering the woods. Also apparently another squad pretty much did the same thing to them but took their MRE's. LMAO! Good times. Not sure if that constitutes as a funny cadet stories but it was fun.
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One of the cadre was asking how to properly pronounce my last name when I was an MSI. I said it is, "Dell." Then the "linger" part sounds like "singer". The SFC said, "Oh Dell like the computer." I said yeah. He said, "and linger like a fart?" So he proceeded to call me "Computer Fart Boy."
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Not all Cadet stories are about them doing stupid things but sometimes about getting them to squirm under pressure.
The Summer of ‘91 as a SSG (11-Bravo type) I went to West Point to help teach their Light Infantry Week (Battle Drills, Patrol Base Ops, Recon and Ambushes); these Cadets just finished their 1st year at the Academy and spend the week in the field. The thing about West Point is there’s a lot of Brass there, Colonels are a Dime a Dozen and VIP Visits are almost non-stop.
During our 3rd week of training Cadets our OIC drops this nugget on us; the Head Coach of the Army Football Team is joining us for 24 hours, not as an Observer but to be integrated into a squad and he has NO Military experience. Nobody volunteered to take the Head Coach until I remembered that one of the Cadets in my Squad was not only on his team but slotted to be his starting Quarterback and this Cadet was just assigned the M-60 That morning.
Every M-60 Gunner needs an Assistant Gunner to carry most the ammo and the Tripod, so I assigned the Head Coach as the AG, making him subordinate to his Sophomore QB. First order of business was introduce our M-60 Gunner to his new AG, with the instructions to the AG follow all commands from his Gunner and that the two are never further apart more than Arms Reach for the next 24 hours. Then I put them through an hour of Crew Drills!
The Coach hung tough for the entire 24 hours. Watching the Cadet “coaching” his Head Coach was quite interesting. In the end the Head Coach had nothing but high praise our team of instructors!
The Summer of ‘91 as a SSG (11-Bravo type) I went to West Point to help teach their Light Infantry Week (Battle Drills, Patrol Base Ops, Recon and Ambushes); these Cadets just finished their 1st year at the Academy and spend the week in the field. The thing about West Point is there’s a lot of Brass there, Colonels are a Dime a Dozen and VIP Visits are almost non-stop.
During our 3rd week of training Cadets our OIC drops this nugget on us; the Head Coach of the Army Football Team is joining us for 24 hours, not as an Observer but to be integrated into a squad and he has NO Military experience. Nobody volunteered to take the Head Coach until I remembered that one of the Cadets in my Squad was not only on his team but slotted to be his starting Quarterback and this Cadet was just assigned the M-60 That morning.
Every M-60 Gunner needs an Assistant Gunner to carry most the ammo and the Tripod, so I assigned the Head Coach as the AG, making him subordinate to his Sophomore QB. First order of business was introduce our M-60 Gunner to his new AG, with the instructions to the AG follow all commands from his Gunner and that the two are never further apart more than Arms Reach for the next 24 hours. Then I put them through an hour of Crew Drills!
The Coach hung tough for the entire 24 hours. Watching the Cadet “coaching” his Head Coach was quite interesting. In the end the Head Coach had nothing but high praise our team of instructors!
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