Eastern Washington University
Here is a Throwback Thursday image of when the Eastern Washington University Army ROTC Color Guard presented the colors to welcome the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford to EWU. The former President visited 37 years ago to celebrate the university’s 100th anniversary on April 14th, 1982. Do any of our Fight Eagles alumni from the 1980’s remember this event?
This picture is of the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team from 2002. The plaque they are holding says the male team was the 2nd place finishers at the competition that year. Does anyone from the 2002 team remember where the competition was held that year and remember anyone from this team?
To all of our Eastern Washington University Army ROTC Cadets, below is a letter that addresses the way ahead for Spring Quarter instruction. Please stay tuned to our website and social media channels for future updates on Spring Quarter instruction.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AfQOBhy2V/
A PDF copy of this letter can be downloaded at this link.
By: Cadet Marcos Sanchez
On March 5th through the 7th, Eastern Washington University (EWU) Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) “Fighting Eagles” battalion conducted their second Field Training Exercise (FTX) of the 2019-2020 school year. The purpose of this FTX was to test the Cadets knowledge of squad and fire team operations in order to prepare them for Cadet Summer Training or CST. The training started on March 5th with the conduction of the FTX prep lab. This lab was used to jump start Cadets’ minds into thinking tactically for the upcoming challenges. This was done by having each squad conduct pre-combat checks and pre-combat inspections (PCCs and PCIs), as well as solidifying Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and lastly taking a quiz on basic individual and squad information.
On March 6th Cadets arrived at Cadet Hall on EWU campus around 1400 in order to get any last-minute packing or planning done. They had an hour to complete all these task before the buses came and brought them to training site Water Works where they conducted the day and night land navigation courses.
The third and last day of the Field Training exercise was the longest day of them all with the Cadets’ day starting at 0400. After accountability and pre-combat checks, the Cadets were issued their M4 rifles and M249 machines plus blank ammunition for the FTX. Using real rifles with blank ammunition adds greatly to the realism of the training event.
the Cadets assembled at the Cheney Waterworks Training Area for squad training lanes. At last year’s Winter FTX the Cadets trained in challenging wintry conditions with deep snow covering the training site. This year the weather would be different, but still have challenging conditions with a persistent cold rain for nearly the entire day.
There were five lanes that the MS-III Cadets were tested on; the first was movement to contact, which the squad leader was informed that enemies were in the vicinity of a certain area. It was their job to plan a patrol in which they would take contact with the enemy and neutralize them using a pre-established battle drill. The second lane was a squad area defense. This helped the Cadets properly set a defensive position and learn how to utilize terrain to their advantage while being attacked by an enemy.
The third lane was a squad attack, which is similar to the movement to contact lane, but the precise enemy location is known, and it is the squad’s goal to initiate contact first. The fourth lane was squad ambush. In this scenario the enemy was known to have high foot traffic through a certain area, the Cadets were to cut them off by a certain time in order to minimize the enemy’s presence. The last lane was squad recon. Cadets were told that an unknown number of enemies were holding a position. The squad leader was then told to gather information on the enemy in order to solidify their numbers and possible intent. They did this by sending out recon and surveillance teams as well as security and observation. The recon and surveillance team’s job was to get eyes on the enemy from multiple vantage positions in order to gather intelligence; all while not being seen.
With freezing cold temperatures and constant missions, the EWU ROTC Cadets where tested both physically and mentally during the Winter FTX. This training is used to prepare our MS-III Cadets for Advance Camp at Ft. Knox, Kentucky this summer. Advanced Camp is a requirement for all MS-III Cadets to pass in order to commission as Army officers. The 37-day Advanced Camp is why the Fighting Eagles battalion conducts challenging training to prepare the MS-III Cadets as much as possible to excel at camp.
Next quarter the Fighting Eagles Cadets will focus more on much larger platoon operations to further prepare our Fighting Eagles Cadets to excel at Advanced Camp. EWU Army ROTC has a great track record of Cadets receiving high scores at Advanced Camp, which is made possible by the hard work and training achieved during weekly leadership labs and quarterly FTX’s. The upcoming Spring Quarter will bring on new training challenges for the Fighting Eagles Cadets.
Go ROTC! Go Fighting Eags!
Note: You can see and download many more pictures from the Winter FTX from our EWU Army ROTC Flickr page.
Over the weekend the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) “Fighting Eagles” battalion conducted its annual Winter Field Training Exercise (FTX). The first day of the exercise featured the Cadets gathering at Cadet Hall to conduct inspections of their equipment before deploying to the Cheney Waterworks Training Area via bus.
Once at the Cheney Waterworks Training Area, the Cadets immediately began their first training event of the Winter FTX, a daytime land navigation assessment. Cadets were given four grid locations that they then had to plot on their maps and then use their compasses and pace counts to navigate to. The land navigation course was meant to be significantly more difficult than past lessons by having points significantly farther apart from one another so Cadets were forced to put more thought into planning a route. To pass the daytime land navigation assessment the Cadets had to find at least 3 of the 4 points they were given.
The course challenged the Cadets’ land navigation fundamentals that they have learned throughout the academic year at leadership labs. After eating a dinner consisting of Army Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) the Cadets waited until dark to begin the night land navigation assessment which would prove to be even harder. For this assessment each Cadet was given 3 points to plot on their map and navigate to in the darkness. Each Cadet had to successfully find 2 of the 3 points to pass the test.
Mastering land navigation is an important skill for Cadets to learn because most of the Cadets will attend Advanced Camp during the summer between their Junior and Senior years in college. At Advanced Camp being able to successfully pass the land navigation course at Ft. Knox, Kentucky is required for all Cadets. The land navigation training offered by the EWU Army ROTC program ensures that Cadets are ready to succeed at Advanced Camp. Our Cadets will conduct another land navigation assessment during the Spring FTX at Camp Seven Mile at Riverside State Park in May. There the course will be even more expansive and feature a number of large hills to truly challenge the Cadets’ land navigation skills prior to attending summer training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
Go ROTC! Go Fighting Eags!
Note: More pictures from the 2020 Winter FTX can be seen at our Flickr page link.
By: Cadet Marcos Sanchez
On the 27th of February 2020, Eastern Washington University (EWU) Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) Cadets once again traveled out to training site “Waterworks” to conduct the eighth lab of the Winter quarter. The purpose of this lab was to have the MS3, Junior grade, Cadets demonstrate their ability to conduct area and perimeter defense to standard. Not only will this help them excel at the upcoming Winter Field Training Exercise (FTX) but it will also help them at Advanced Camp this upcoming summer at Ft. Knox, Kentucky.
In order to maximize the efficiency of the allotted time for training, Cadet Christian Goldbach, the officer in charge, had the MS3 Cadets also conduct missions with Recon and Surveillance (R&S) and Listening Post Observation Post (LPOP) teams. These are two tactics that will be used often at camp and practicing them will help them tremendously. The purpose of the R&S teams is to identify any threats in an area of interest and report the information back to the main element. The LPOP is similar to the R&S team but serves as a patrol bases early warning system. They stay out a good distance from the main element and report if any incoming threats are approaching all while remaining undetected.
Throughout the training exercise Cadets were hit with indirect fire which forced them to call out a direction and distance in order to move their squad to a safe distance. This was only done if they were not meeting time restraints, but also helps with using their mental agility. This is a strategy that many Cadre use at camp in order to maintain timelines and disciplines such as noise and visibility. This all helps to give the MS3 class Cadets the most realistic training possible to prepare them for future upcoming field training exercises.
Note: You can view more images from the lab on our EWU ROTC Flickr page.
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