LLAB 16 - 26 Jan 10

Each semester, multiple award ceremonies are held to recognize the achievements of the cadets. Awards range from getting good grades, receiving an ROTC scholarship, getting a high score on their physical fitness assessment, to doing an outstanding job in ROTC. See the full list of award recipients below.

Look at all the recipients of the Academic Honors Award!

Cadet Zahn, Porter and Crandall were the recipients of an ROTC In-College Scholarship. The commander surprised these cadets with the announcement, who were forced to stand in front of everyone, not knowing why.

After the awards ceremony, we moved to the Student Rec Center, where the GMC (General Military Course--the freshman and sophomores) practiced drill and marching. Many Freshman were brand-new to the program and have never marched before. These cadets were separated and taught the very basics while the returning Freshman continued their training from what they learned about marching from last semester.

Cadet Watson explaining the next drill maneuver they will learn next.

While the Freshman cadets practiced basic drill procedures, the Sophomores practiced commanding their fellow FTP cadets in drill. This is good practice to do here at LLAB, because Field Training is a very chaotic setting and cadets are expected to command their flights to march everywhere they go. Marching your flight while under the extreme pressure of being at Field Training is much easier after this type of practice.

The sophomores, under the guidance of trainers, practice marching their fellow sophomore cadets around the gym. They will be requied to march their flights at Field Training, this summer.

Full List of Awards

4.0 Term GPA during the 2009 Fall Semester
-Jones, Miller, Sellers (Sean), Smith

Academic Honors Award recognizes academic excellence as signified by a term GPA of 3.0 or better for one full academic term. The recipient must also have an average of 3.5 in Aerospace courses for the duration of this period.

Completed Cadets: Daniels, Heckenkamp, and Sides

AS400 Cadets: Byrd, Evans, Gruening, Jones, Kudlacz, Miller, Stephens, and Swartz

AS300 Cadets: Flach, Gannon, Koll, Navarro, Nelson, Sellers (Stephen), Shirley, Watson, Wetzel, and Wright.

AS200 Cadets: Boyd, Cherry, Cross, Drue, Fowler, Hafkey, Hughes, Johnson (Matthew), Locicero, Maloney, Petersen, Pund, Sellers (Sean), Smith, Trewett, Wolfe, Yutz, and Zahn.

AS100 Cadets: Campbell, Crandell, Grajales, Ragland, Schulte, and Spearing.

Recruiting Award recognizes outstanding effort in support of the detachment recruiting activities and is given to cadets who have attended at least 2 recruiting events each semester.
-Heckenkamp, Watson

The Marshall/Arnold 5 Star Award
-Swartz

Reserve Officer Association (ROA) National Convention
-Mills

National Character and Leadership Symposium (NCLS)
-Sellers (Stephen)

My POC Jobs: Cadet Heckenkamp

When a cadet completes Field Training and enters the Professional Officer Course (POC) phase of ROTC, they are given a semester-long position in the Cadet Wing. While the freshman and sophomore cadets are being trained, it is the junior and senior cadets' job to run the Cadet Wing.

Each POC cadet is given a job that fulfills a needed function in the Wing, such as planning training events, supplying the training events, figuring out logistics, monitoring safety of all events, among many others. When I entered the POC, I wanted to apply for POC jobs that I would do a good job at based on my existing skills, and then different jobs that put me outside of my comfort zone, allowing me to gain experience in roles I had very little experience in. In my years in the POC, I've had jobs that fulfilled both of these criteria.

As Squadon Commander, I trained my group of Freshmen drill. Training multiple people at once was outside of my comfort zone, which is why I wanted the job.

For jobs I had existing strengths in, I served as Inspector General, which monitored training and identified the strengths and weaknesses of the trainers and paid attention to standardization; and a command position, which oversaw Wing communication (website, PowerPoint slideshows, etc). I’m confident in my attention to detail and I'm a self-proclaimed computer expert (my cavemen friends and family might also support this statement), and these jobs went well because of my strengths.

Since the purpose of the Professional Officer Course is to practice being Air Force officers, I wanted to have some Cadet Wing positions that were way outside my comfort zone and I had very little experience in. For these jobs, I was Safety Officer, which forced me to look at training in a completely different way; and a Squadron Commander, which made me responsible for training 1/4th of the freshman cadets. While I'm confident at training people 1 on 1, trying to teach a group of cadets how to march is something I've never done before and it was quite nerve-racking at first.

But as the weeks went on, it became easier and easier and my confidence and competency grew. I might still get nervous when I have to teach cadets on a larger scale, but my experience as a Squadron Commander made it easier. The way you become more comfortable with public speaking is to do it enough until it no longer makes you so nervous, you start sweating excessively. This is the same principle.

I would encourage all cadets to choose at least one POC job that is outside their comfort zone. It is better for you to be uncomfortable at your job here in ROTC and gain experience so you can grow as a leader and be better at your job when you enter Active Duty.

Cadet Major Rob Heckenkamp

LLAB 15 - 12 Jan 10

Today was the first Leadership Labratory (LLAB) of the semester. While there are not any exciting events, the first LLAB is always an important start to the semester.

All of the in-processing administrational paperwork had to be done. The cadets were separated by their Squadrons and went to different stations to complete a different step of the in-processing. The cadet leadership had already planned the logistics of how to complete the in-processing mission, and it was the rest of the POC cadets' job to implement the plan.

The Junior and Senior cadets have just started their new cadet jobs in the Wing, and this LLAB allows them to get an idea of what their job entails and to jump in and start performing. The cadet supervisors supervise their subordinates, the squadron commanders herded their squadrons from station to station, and each POC cadet had a task that contributed to the mission of the day.