A light drizzle fell on the cluster of small stone buildings. Early morning light streamed through tattered sheets hanging across square “windows.” Around a corner, men and women in military uniform filed silently into a narrow alley, clutching their rifles, backs to the wall.
They waited.
Suddenly, shots rang out. A few doors down, a pregnant woman screamed for help. Flares exploded a few yards in front of the servicemen and servicewomen, shrouding an enemy sniper in thick clouds of smoke. Chaos erupted. Within seconds, the leaders of the group were shouting orders over the steady onslaught of gunfire.
“Cut across, guys! Move, move!”
Many of those young men and women had fired a weapon with real ammunition for the first time just the day before.
No, this was not a remote village in a war zone. This was the final scene of the annual San Diego State Army ROTC field training exercise. The three-day training began with paintball and culminated in a 30-minute simulated “village mission.” The mission consisted of three objectives: to evacuate wounded American servicemen, to secure the village by interacting with civilians and fighting off insurgents, and to capture the insurgents’ commander — preferably alive.
“This is the first time we’ve ever attempted something this grand,” Army ROTC Public Affairs Officer, SDSU graduate student and Cadet Capt. Brittany Summers said. “It’s pretty elaborate.”
SDSU’s Army ROTC, or Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, is a program designed to train students for leadership in military service or civilian life, according to Summers. She said activities such as the village mission are more about leadership than tactical genius.
“We don’t expect them to come in and be John Rambo or Gen. Patton,” Summers said. “What we’re looking for is (the ability) to make sound decisions under stress.”
Some cadets joined Army ROTC with prior military experience. Others, such as Cadet Kevin Pham, joined with none at all. Pham, a sophomore at SDSU, joined for several reasons — job security, discipline and the promise of adventure.
“It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” Pham said. “It got messy in there … We started getting shot at, and we couldn’t see because of the smoke.”
The chaos could not diminish his enthusiasm, however.
“This is my career,” Pham said. “This is what I’m looking forward to doing for the rest of my life.”
At last weekend’s field training, cadets learned how to interrogate an enemy prisoner-of-war, how to set an ambush and how to shoot an AK-47 or M16 assault rifle, among other tactics. But the most comprehensive test was the village mission.
Capt. Wil Lynch, an SDSU Army ROTC instructor, designed the village mission based on challenges he experienced during his nearly three years in Afghanistan.
“Dealing with civilians … was really daunting,” Lynch said. “We were told to be a lot more aggressive than was needed.”
SDSU cadets benefit not only from strategically designed activities, but also from access to several local military training facilities – from MCAS Miramar, where they get to fly in Black Hawk helicopters, to the Kearny Mesa production studio, Stu Segall Productions, where the mock village is constructed.
“Cadets at USC or UCLA don’t get to do stuff like this,” Lynch said. “These guys definitely got a leg up.”
Cadet First Sgt. Percival Gawaran, a senior at SDSU, said the opportunities available to SDSU cadets far surpass opportunities at other universities.
“I was at the New Mexico Military Institute,” Gawaran said. “And we trained at the school campus. Totally different. Here at San Diego State, they provide good training for us.”
These factors, plus an unpredictable job market, led to record enrollment this year. With 161 cadets from colleges and universities across San Diego County, the SDSU Army ROTC “is bigger now than it’s ever been in San Diego State’s history,” Lynch said.
Cadet William Seban received a four-year ROTC scholarship for the university of his choice. He chose SDSU.
“I’ve seen other ROTC (programs),” Seban said. “We’re definitely one of the best in the country.”
