Cadet Field Training
The sign outside of the main headquarters at Camp Buckner reads "For
Country and Corps," meaning the Class of 2004 is present for summer
training. Cadet Field Training, or CFT, is the summer training program for
the Yearlings or Third Class Cadets. This year CFT is attended by the Class
of 2004. The seven weeks at Camp Buckner, where CFT is held, build on the
Army skills the cadets learned during Cadet Basic Training (CBT) last year
and further prepare the cadets for their future job as platoon leaders in
the Army.
This year's CFT started on Friday, 22 June 2001, allowing the
Yearlings about twenty days off since graduation. (Though the yearlings who
attended STAP, or Summer Term Academic Program, only got one day off!) For
the upperclass cadets from '02 and '03 who will lead the Yearlings at Camp
Buckner, leave time was limited to one week. Train the Trainer (T3) started
for the upperclass on 11 June 2001. T3 allows the upperclass time to
prepare for the arrival of the Yearlings. Preparing training schedules,
rehearsing classes, drawing equipment and prepping barracks were the orders
of the day. There were also soldiers from various Army posts who needed to
be coordinated with on different events. These soldiers, who come from
posts like Ft. Drum and Ft. Polk, live next to Camp Buckner at Camp Natural
Bridge; they support the cadet activities at both CFT and CBT, bringing a
taste of the Army to the cadets at West Point.
For the Yearlings, CFT will train them on the remaining
pre-commissioning tasks they started learning during Cadet Basic Training.
They will be trained and tested on everything from Land Navigation (Day and
Night) to Close Quarters Combat, Fire Support and Bayonet skills. The
Leadership Reaction Course will challenge the cadets to work as a team,
thinking creatively, while the Confidence Obstacle Course will test the
cadets on an individual level. Cadets will also compete for the Recondo
Badge, which cadets can wear on their uniforms if they complete all the
Recondo requirements during CFT.
Two of the highlights for the Yearlings this summer will be
Operation Highland Warrior and Mounted Maneuver Training (MMT). Operation
Highland Warrior is a week long field exercise which teaches the cadets how
to work and react as a light infantry unit on the combined arms battlefield.
MMT occurs at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, where cadets spend a week experiencing
first hand the capabilities of the mechanized world. They will be able to
drive tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFV), as well as fire M105
Howitzers. They will witness several live fire displays as well as spend
time maneuvering platoons of tanks and BFVs in the computer simulation
centers at Ft. Knox.
CFT ends with Camp Illumination and a promotion ceremony to the rank
of Cadet Corporal for those yearlings who have passed all the CFT
requirements. The Yearlings will return to West Point via a morning run
from Camp Buckner on Monday, August 13th; that day also marks the start of
Reorganization Week. As the Yearlings are headed to new academic year
companies as part of the scramble, they will have much to adjust to as the
academic semester starts for their second year at the Academy.
Despite the rigors of the field during CFT, the summer is a welcome
change for cadets from the academic year. The Yearling class will have many
fond memories to draw on after CFT - swimming in Lake Popolopen, hanging out
at Barth Hall during free time, getting lost during land navigation or
taking a turn full speed in a tank... Hopefully these memories will sustain
them when Yearling academics kick in this fall, including such cadet
favorites as Physics, Economics and various languages!
Jackie (Kalata) Whiteside '93
I welcome your comments at Rangersct@aol.com.
Parents: We would appreciate any photos and memories you may be able to send to us. Please send to the Nobles for inclusion on the page. We need all the help we can get.
Thanks to the following who have added to our Buckner collection:
the Frazier family
the Gharbi family
the Martin family
Veronica May
Bob Massey
Guillermo and Blanca Ramos
Dru Rhodes
Sharon and David
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
