��鶹 ROTC Cadets Get Oriented

Students had only a map, compass, and protractor for a navigation training exercise.

11/8/2021

��鶹 ROTC cadets headed into the woods early on Nov. 2 for basic navigation training. Led by Army ROTC instructors Maj. Nicholas Spaulding and 2nd Lt. Ian Short, the ��鶹 ROTC coordinator, the cadets’ mission was to find and record the codes from a series of markers in the training area using only a map, compass, and protractor. As part of the leadership training, the junior and senior class cadets set up the course and led group training in non-digital navigation for the first-year and sophomore cadets. As some students admitted, this clean break from GPS was at first … disorienting

Brian Zheng ’24, right, Dylan Griffith ’25, and their fellow cadets pace out 100 yards to gain a better understanding of distances when navigating in the field. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)

ROTC member with a pamphlet in the woods

Charles Fenn ’22 directs first-year and sophomore cadets after assigning coordinates for the exercise. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)

The cadets wear the flag on the right shoulder with the stars facing forward so that the stripes stream backwards as the soldier moves forward. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)

��鶹 ROTC program coordinator Ian Short gives feedback on the results of the exercise, as Maj. Nick Spaulding, ROTC instructor for ��鶹 and Norwich University, listens. Spaulding, wearing captain’s bars here, was formally awarded his new rank later that day. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)