The Florida Southern College Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) has a busy summer planned, but relaxing on a beach somewhere is not on the agenda.
Instead, the Mocs Battalion’s cadre of students and instructors are headed out all over the country from May until August for a series of training camps that will accentuate an already advanced engaged learning program at Florida Southern.
“We are one of the most active ROTC units out there,” Florida Southern Professor of Military Science Lt. Col. John Denney said. “The ratio of size to slots our cadets were selected for is extremely high.”
There are 24 cadets and four instructors in total that will be involved in summer training exercises.
The cadre will have 15 rising seniors that will be headed to Cadet Summer Training (CST) at Fort Knox (Kentucky) for Advanced Camp, which is a part of their capstone training.
Advanced Camp is a 35-day training event designed to develop a cadet’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and to forge them into tough, adaptable leaders who can thrive in ambiguous and complex environments. Cadets are evaluated on their ability to lead at the squad and platoon levels, both in garrison and tactical environments. Cadets are mentally and physically tested during a 12-day consequence driven field training exercise that replicates a combat training center rotation. Successful completion of the Advanced Camp is a prerequisite for commissioning.
Cadets Anthony Alvarez, Anna Drury-Palermo, Mary Dykens, Evan Hydock, Maura Imbriale, Victoria-Lynn Kellar, Zackary McCullough, Hunter Odom, Victor Pagan-Cordova, David Pautienus, Mariely Sanchez, Michael Schildberg, Jesenia Valdez, Carmeisha Worth and Cole Zsido are the 15 rising seniors going to Advanced Camp.
Rising junior Madison Allen will be headed for Basic Camp at Ft. Knox where she will be earning credit for freshman and sophomore years in ROTC in order for her to join the program as a junior.
Underclassmen cadets Joseph Powell and Dante Mendez will attend CST at Ft. Knox as well but as Opposing Forces (OPFOR), which will be enemy role players.
Approximately 288 cadets are able to participate in the OPFOR program that provides an in-depth tactical experience. The OPFOR program is approximately 30-days in length and allows cadets to test their leadership abilities at the fire team and squad levels, from troop leading procedures to tactical operations against Advanced Camp squads and platoons.
Six cadets will be heading out for Cadet Troop Leader Training (CTLT).
The CTLT track provides cadets the opportunity to experience leadership in Army Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) units over a 3-4 week period. Cadets serve in lieutenant-level leadership positions in active-duty units.
Cadets Alvarez and Sanchez will be heading to Ft. Lewis in Washington, cadet Zsido will deploy to Ft. Hood in Texas, cadets Pagan-Cordova and Schildberg will head overseas to Germany for their CTLT and cadet Haley Ramage will do her training at Ft. Benning in Georgia.
Four cadets will compete for their Air Assault wings as Mendez, Lauren Sheiveler, and Shannon Allen will head to Ft. Campbell in Kentucky, while Jesuel Caraballo will be at West Point in New York.
Soldiers are trained on the missions performed by rotary wing aircraft, aircraft safety, aero-medical evacuation procedures, pathfinder operations, principles and techniques of combat assaults, rappelling techniques, and sling-load operations. The core POI requires minimum support assets and is adaptable to organic aviation elements. Both the core instruction and the additional instruction are conducted in a classroom/field environment. Upon graduation from the course, each cadet will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations.
Nursing cadets Anna Drury-Palermo and Imbriale will do their Nurse Summer Training Program (NSTP) at Ft. Bliss in Texas and at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington D.C., respectively.
The NSTP allows nursing students who are also Army ROTC Cadets to have an opportunity for a unique summer nursing experience. The paid, four-week NSTP assigns approximately 200 cadets to Army hospitals throughout the U.S. and Germany. The nursing program introduces cadets to the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) and to the roles and responsibilities of an Army Nurse Corps Officer. Under the supervision of an experienced Army Nurse Corps Officer, cadets obtain hands-on experience. Training opportunities include one-on-one clinical experience which enables cadets to hone their clinical skills, develop problem-solving techniques and become comfortable with developing professional skills as a member of the U.S. Army Healthcare Team.
Cadet Ramage will also partake in the Master Fitness Trainer Course at Ft. Benning.
The Master Fitness Trainer Course trains selected Noncommissioned Officers (NCOs) and Commissioned Officers in all aspects of the Army’s Physical Readiness Training (PRT) System, so they can be unit advisors on physical readiness issues and monitor the unit and individual physical readiness program.
Cadets Anna Abell and Joshua Steiner were selected for Project Global Officer (GO), which is a nationwide program open to all qualified ROTC students offering fully-funded opportunities in critical language education, overseas study, and cross-cultural experience. Through Project GO, future military officers develop linguistic and cross-cultural communication skills required for effective leadership for all services in the 21st century operational environment.
Abell will go to the University of North Carolina to study Mandarin, while Steiner will head to the University of Florida to study Turkish.
Finally, the four Florida Southern College ROTC instructors will head to Fort Knox for Advanced Camp instruction. Lt. Col. John Denney, Capt. Greg Miller, Master Sgt. Ken Orisek and Sgt. 1st Class Herman Thola will all attend.
Go Mocs! 
Learn more about engaged learning at FSC.