Moving from IMT to FTP marks a significant transition within Air Force ROTC. An IMT cadet's main responsibility is personal leadership, molding him or herself into the best member of a team while carrying out the orders of their team leaders to the best of their ability. However, their is a marked change in emphasis this year, we are no longer expected to simply sit back, observe, and learn from those above us, we are now expected to take on the responsibilities of leadership and learn through doing.
FTP (Field Training Preparation) year is meant to do just what its name implies, prepare cadets to undergo the rigors of field training. However, this explanation belies the true intention of this years training, to press FTP cadets into situations they do not feel fully prepared to address, forcing them to dynamically adapt and by doing so expand beyond their own boundaries of leadership and personal ability. Throughout this year we will be asked to not only increase our knowledge of important Air Force structure, codes of conduct, customs, courtesies, and regulations; we will be asked to further internalize what it is we are undertaking as members of the United States Air Force. This year truly represents the core of what the Air Force is, men and women thrust into situations that cannot be addressed simply through preparation and knowledge, but that require the dedication of a motivated team able to adapt and overcome through combined effort.
We all fully understand that the tasks that lie before us are not meant to be met as individuals. If there is one thing that we must all take away from this years training, it is that to overcome adversity we have to come together as a team. In every challenge we undertake, the emphasis lies on the point that we rise and we fall as a team, not as individuals. If we allow one person to fall to the side, it is the failure of everyone, not just that individual. This is pointed out repeatedly, through AEF (Air Expeditionary Force) training which requires constant accountability for every team member, and through FTP PT sessions, which are focused on group runs forcing every individual to put their strength towards a common goal. In everything we do this year, our constant focus must always be on the support of our fellow cadets, because our unity is our strength.
Regardless of the challenges that await us this year, the FTP class is fully confident in our ability to come together as a team and accomplish any goal. We know what is at stake, we know what we are preparing for, we know that Field Training is the culmination of all our efforts to this point, and that it will throw countless obstacles in our path. We will do everything in our ability this year to prepare ourselves in every way possible for this summer, and as a team we will not fail.
THOMAS J. SPEARING, C/3C, AFROTC
