The RIT Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Tiger Battalion spent four days to the east of Ithaca, N. Y. for their spring Joint Field Training Exercise with Cornell University and other incorporated colleges.

Cadets mustered shortly after 5 a.m. outside Facilities Management (FMS, 99) along Wiltsie Drive, in the early morning light Thursday, April 27. By the end of the day it would be snowing; by the end of the weekend it was warm and sunny.

The exercise is designed to evaluate the leadership skills of MSIIIs — third year cadets — through different military challenges while they command underclassmen. There are three types of challenges, or “lanes”: company patrol, situational training exercises and field leadership reaction courses. The various lanes range from assaulting a Sappa (fictional enemy force) bunker with paintball guns to rescuing a “downed pilot” with improvised Swiss Seat harnesses.

Currently, the MSIIIs are preparing for their four week long Leadership Development and Assessment Course at Fort Lewis, Wash. this summer.

MS III cadet Amy Stafford, a third year Advertising Photography major, puts her hair into a bun before land navigation Thursday afternoon.
Jonathan Foster

Adam Podolec takes cover behind a tree with his M16, equipped with a blank adapter, while in security at a lane, or challenge. Cadets face outward to cover 360 degrees of direction while in security.
Jonathan Foster

Mechanical Engineering student Jordan Matteo and other members of Podolec's squad camouflage their Kevlar helmets during a reconnaissance lane.
Jonathan Foster

The third squad, second platoon of A company slogs to their first Field Leadership Reaction Course (FLRC) early Sunday morning. MSIIIs are evaluated for their squad leadership skills in the FLRC lanes, which are rarely finished in the time allotted time.
Jonathan Foster

James Humbert approaches a mock Improvised Explosive Device (IED) factory to take a prisoner. A fighter of the fictional opposing Sapa Forces lays dead on the right beside a mock IED.
Jonathan Foster

Cadets lay out sleep systems before lights out Saturday night. Red light is used to allow the eye's rhodosporin stores to last longer and in turn, preserve night vision.
Jonathan Foster