Cadet Emily Stephens
Leadership Laboratory (LLAB) is always interesting if you are a sophomore cadet preparing for Field Training, however, LLAB 17 was particularly busy for these cadets. During this LLAB, C/Swartz, C/Byrd, C/Anderson, and myself, C/Stephens, were given the task of presenting the sophomores with a brief overview of some important aspects of Field Training (FT). The two-hour session consisted of two parts, dorm maintenance and dining hall procedures, both being very important to their respective evaluator’s initial opinion of the cadets’ ability to organize, lead, and follow.
The first hour of LLAB was spent teaching Field Training Preparation (FTP) cadets everything they will need to know for dorm maintenance. Their training session included everything from learning how to make a couple different types of beds for certain circumstances, to learning where to place their underwear in the specified drawer. If any FTP are reading this, yes, your respective Flight Training Officer (FTO)/Cadet Training Assistant (CTA) will check your underwear drawer, so do not feel obligated to buy white undergarments, but let’s keep the “Cutie with a Booty” britches at home. After the dorm maintenance training was completed, the cadets moved on to the place with which every FTP has a love-hate relationship…the dining facility (DFAC).
A typical day at FT will start at 0400, and from that point on, there is no stopping. Because of this, the cadets are always hungry, and it is impossible to eat enough. So, the second portion of the training involved learning how to enter, proceed through the line, sit down, eat, clean, and exit the DFAC. When your dining priority rolls around and you realize that you are finally going to eat and stop feeling like a walking shell of a human, you are filled with a certain hope that perhaps you will make it to the next meal; however, these dreams are promptly dashed when you come to and remember that in order to get in and out of the DFAC, you have got to get your flight past some very unpleasant people (FTOs and CTAs), and they really do not seem to be as hungry as you. While one training session is not enough for the FTP to understand these procedures exactly, they were given a good idea as to how the process works.
In the minds of most college students, it is hard to imagine this sort of discipline and organization; however, for every LLAB that they take seriously, the FTP will be one step closer to success at FT. More than them graduating top-third or being a distinguished graduate in their flight, the Professional Officer Cadets (POC) involved with the training of the FTP are concerned with giving them the information they need to do a personal best at their encampment. In doing so, each of them will return having made their flight, family, the detachment, and most importantly themselves, very proud.
