20 December 2006
Cadet perspective on Fall Field Training Exercise
By: CDT Kuphall
This year's FTX was one of the most logistically complex ones Army ROTC has ever conducted. We also had the opportunity to invite Air Force ROTC cadets and Marine ROTC midshipman along with us. This allowed us to work closely with the other ROTC units and provide them with some quality training that they typically would not receive through their programs. The hard work of all the cadets paid off as the FTX was a great success. This year's Fall FTX featured an exciting event: constructing a rope bridge. A rope bridge is exactly what it sounds like - a single rope braced against two trees acting as a bridge. Crossing the bridge involves latching onto the rope and pulling yourself across. Prior to the actual building of the bridge, we trained on the various knots involved in the event such as the endline bowline, wireman's knot, square knot and the making of a swiss seat which is similar to a climbing harness. After training, we broke into squads and began practicing working as a cohesive unit. The actual exercise was a timed event while competing against another squad.
Overall, the event was a success. It was a lot of fun to learn as well as put the training into practice. The whole experience was new and exciting since many of the cadets had never constructed a rope bridge before. An important lesson was learned: the tighter the rope, the less chance of getting wet. The rope bridge was an outstanding training event for the Fall FTX!
