Activities
In addition to taking a class, ROTC cadets also participate in numerous other activities designed to prepare them as future warrior leaders. Conducted both on and off campus, these training events serve to reinforce in a practical environment the skills learned in the classroom.
Leadership Lab
Every Thursday afternoon for two hours, each member of the Sooner Battalion assembles in a wilderness area near campus to conduct field training and practice skills that otherwise cannot be learned in a classroom environment. For basic course cadets, the training usually focuses on basic soldier skills, such as weapon familiarization, individual movement techniques, drill and ceremony, bayonet training, grenade training, radio procedure, and the like. For advanced course cadets, training is focused on small unit tactical leadership and land navigation. During leadership lab, advanced course cadets are given the opportunity to test their field leadership skills by leading a squad-sized element of their peers to accomplish various infantry missions under simulated combat conditions. Sometimes the leadership lab also focuses on the development of skills needed to successfully pass Warrior Forge, the ROTC qualification course, such as combat water survival training or rifle marksmanship.
Physical Training (PT)
Because physical fitness is important for Soldiers, and especially leaders of Soldiers, the Sooner Battalion conducts morning PT every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for one hour. PT often focuses on developing upper body endurance, abdominal muscle endurance, and cardiorespiratory endurance through a combination of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, crunches, sprints, and distance runs. Special PT sessions are sometimes conducted to develop cadets in other ways. For example, a foot march of between 3 and 6 miles with a 35 pound pack is conducted once every two weeks, and some kind of water-based PT is conducted at the pool at least once every few months. Regardless of one's level of physical development, the Sooner Battalion PT program will ensure that all cadets meet and exceed the Army standard.
Field Training Exercise (FTX)
Once per semester, the Sooner Battalion travels to a nearby military installation, usually Fort Sill or Fort Leonard Wood, to conduct field training using Army resources that provide a better training experience than could otherwise be replicated on campus. Spending between two and three days in the field, the FTX introduces cadets to fieldcraft, patrol bases, night land navigation, and wilderness survival skills. Skills learned during the leadership lab, like small unit tactical exercises, are also practiced during the FTX, often with advanced training aids like blank-firing weapons or paintball guns. If available, cadets may train on the confidence courses, obstacle courses, rifle ranges, rappel towers, and other facilities available at these installations.
Color Guard
To build rapport with the local community and reinforce the principles of military drill and ceremony, the Sooner Battalion often provides cadets to serve as a color guard at numerous community functions, from OU football games and other sporting events to public ceremonies and dedications.
Ranger Challenge Team
The Ranger Challenge Team is a group of cadets who volunteer for extra training in order to participate in a military skill competition called "Ranger Challenge," which unites various individual soldier skills such as foot marching, rifle marksmanship, physical fitness, and land navigation, as well as collective skills such as constructing a rope bridge and team problem solving. In addition, numerous other training opportunities are available to members of the Ranger Challenge team, and they often participate in other skill competitions like the Bataan Memorial Death March - a 26.2 mile foot march through the mountains of New Mexico.
Airborne, Air Assault, and Mountain Warfare Schools
Properly qualified basic course cadets may volunteer for and receive additional skill training at several Army schools during their summer break. At Airborne School, cadets learn how to execute a static-line parachute jump from a C-130 or C-17 aircraft. At Air Assault School, cadets learn how to prepare helicopter sling loads and rappel from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. At Mountain Warfare School, cadets learn the principles of military mountaineering. Each of these schools provide additional Regular Army training and give cadets a skill qualification that carries over through commissioning.
Cadet Troop Leadership Training (CTLT)
Following the successful completion of Warrior Forge during the summer between the MS III and MS IV year, certain qualified cadets are given the option of attending CTLT, which is a three week internship at a Regular Army unit. There, cadets shadow a lieutenant and learn the nuances of that particular job. While at CTLT, cadets may be assigned an officer role and integrated within the daily business of the unit. CTLT is a valuable experience because it places cadets within an actual unit and, for cadets with no prior military experience, provides a first-hand look at how the Army works on a daily basis.
