Leadership Development and Assessment Course @ Fort Lewis, Washington

*Because of the Numerous PMS (Professors of Military Science) that have come across this Guide, have read it, and have expressed their interest in either #1) Providing it to their cadets and/or #2) Linking to it from their University/College's ROTC portion of their website, feel free to simply email me if you would like to provide it to your Cadets, in either manner. These writings were made, and have been supplied, completely Free of charge. If your ROTC program does link to this Guide, I will be more than happy to include a Link to the ROTC aspect of your University's website, at the tail end of this writing! (Even if you don't LINK to this Guide, you are still more than Welcome to ADD a link to your ROTC program's aspect of your University/College website, at the end of this Page!)

Weeks before leaving for LDAC, you should be provided with what, at first, appears to be a rather lengthy packing list. Although 4 or 5 pages long, with an attached sheet that details the specifics (*) about certain items, it really isn't that bad, however, just like most things in the military, it will require a degree of attention-to-detail in order to ensure that you have included exactly the right products in your packing. This several page packing list will be further divided into sections corresponding with which specific items you will receive from your college/university, will be issued to you through your assigned regiment, through Fort Lewis' CIF, and, of course, which items you'll have to purchase and take to LDAC yourself.

If you are a prior service cadet who has been to basic combat training, or have been to Airborne and/or Air Assault School, then you are more than likely familiar with the Army's desire to always do massive military clothing and equipment packing list showdowns.

Upon my arrival at LDAC, every cadet had to lay out a poncho and inventory our gear, item-by-item, with a strict senior NCO overlooking. As he read down the same packing list that we had been provided with months earlier, we had to hold each individual item over our head--only to be greeted with a negative (-) SPOT report if we were missing even the most "insignificant" item. (i.e. extra velcro nametapes, chapstick, etc.)

While the value of certain items, like ACUs, socks, and t-shirts must definitely be in your possession, there are other items in which you may immediately question the importance of actually being required to take them to Warrior Forge. Most likely, you will never use these products during your time at LDAC, however, it is important that you take these items anyway. For example, most of my squad never even touched their boot maintenance kits--leaving it's bulkiness to take up if even the smallest amount of much-needed packing space. For the entire duration of my time at LDAC, that boot maintenance kit remained packed, as it did for many other cadets.

While packing, a part of me was tempted to intentionally not pack certain items. In hindsight, under such intense scrutiny, I am glad that I brought every item that was on that packing list. Get rid of an item AFTER all your gear is inventoried, however, make sure you take everything you are suppose to.

Evey platoon has a distinct personality that doesn't take long, at all, to emerge. While some cadets may like to belt cadences off, at the top of their lungs, for even the shortest road distances, other platoons, like mine, may be very 'laid back' in that respect. Either way, upon arrival at LDAC, you will quickly find that, almost every day, marching from building to building will become a pretty common occurrence. As your Platoon marches to do everything from medical inprocessing to CIF issue, and turn-in, you will have abundant opportunity to shout off cadences.

Just like my Platoon, many cadets will shy away from shouting off cadences. In fact, for the small handful of 5 or 6 cadets that consistently sang cadence in my Platoon, they were all held in very high regard by my cadre. Whether certain cadets don't particularly have the confidence to project their voices to a mass formation, or just simply came to LDAC knowing absolutely no cadences, at all, this means that you will have an awesome opportunity to leave a solid impression on your TAC, as well as your peers, from the 'get-go'.

Prior to leaving for LDAC, I had decided to write out a good 10-15 cadences at the tail end of my Soldiers' Notebook. I did this so that I could essentially 'study' them while preparing for LDAC, and, while also on the plane ride to Washington State. While marching, there's also no shame in quickly pulling out your notebook in the event that your mind goes blank and you can't think of another cadence. Rather than chastise you, most cadre will appreciate the hard work and preparation you have put into writing out all these cadences.

Afterall, being a U.S. Army Officer doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have all the answers, right away, but, rather, that you know your resources and know where exactly to go to consult them.

Becoming a person that is held in such high-regard, amongst your peers, may appear to be a rather daunting task--at least initially. Just 'being yourself' is a good start, however, one needs to remember that LDAC is intentionally structured to be a bit of a popularity contest, with beginning, mid-, and end- of cycle peer evaluations thoughtfully placed to be conducted at the tail end of some of the most physically and mentally challenging training events that you'll be subjected to during your short tenure at Fort Lewis, Washington.

All of your peers (at least in your Squad, and, later, in your Platoon) will have ample opportunity to write as much, or as little, as they want to about you. They'll be given a substantial amount of space, on their peer evaluation cards, to expand upon whichever, of the 16 leadership dimensions, that you should maintain or work harder to achieve.

Since the day you were teamed up with your Squad, you have been, perhaps unknowingly, been subjected to a consistent and rigorous assessment of your leadership ability and potential. Not only will evaluations come from cadre, but, these peer evaluations are important in camp and can make or break you. For those who are borderline in their overall cadet LDAC ranking (N, S, or E), your ranking amongst your peers can actually serve to help migrate you from an N to an S, or from a S to an E.

While most cadets won't talk about peer evaluations until after the fact (if they talk about them at all), everything is free-game and definitely isn't subject to filtration, especially if your peers identify you as a 'weak-link'. The beauty of these evaluations, and one of the reasons why they are such a reliable tool and indicator, is because honesty always seems to prevail--no matter how brutal the comments are that are made. In fact, certain cadets (especially in my Squad) made tiny bullet comments like "Cadet would make a horrible officer. Do NOT Commission".

Throughout LDAC, the best approach is for a cadet to be ever-cognizant of this behind-the-scenes evaluation process. It certainly helps to be as little 'self-serving' as possible, while always helping and genuinely giving back to the group. While many cadets may be clearly out for themselves, only to strive to get 'E's on all their evaluations no matter the cost, your peers will be able to spot these types of cadets a mile away, and they'll definitely be evaluated accordingly.

For each new training day, your Cadet PSG, and cadre, will ask for volunteers for just about everything from being a Guide-on bearer, a road guard, a chow hall runner, or just to carry random heavy boxes from one building to another. In fact, when a lot of things needs to be accomplished long before your civilian friends back home actually wake up, you can rest assured that volunteers will be needed in abundant supply.

Common past cadet experience has typically dictated that one should never volunteer for anything....ever. Whether at LDAC or some other military training, my guidance is that you do your best to not burn yourself from excessive volunteering. Much will already be expected from you from a training perspective, so, while you give back to Squad and Platoon, it is also imperative that you watch out for yourself. Whether you volunteer whenever the need arises, or not, the most important part is to be seen as someone who is reliable, and willing to go over and beyond for your fellow cadets, especially for those who are daily leadership positions.

Volunteering may actually come with some 'perks', as well. For example, a morning garbage run details allows you an opportunity to get away from the rest of your Platoon, and get some fresh air, at least for a minute or so casual stroll away from the barracks. When you are constantly living with, and interacting with, the same people repeatedly, volunteering for details may actually be a much welcomed respite from the many personalities in your Squad.

Let's face it, not everyone is gifted enough to be skilled at joke-telling and improv. Where a plethora of personalities abound, your Squad will have it's share of strict or fun-loving cadets who have noticeably different overall approaches to LDAC. For my Squad, there was one kid who never failed at making people laugh. He actually became well-known, regiment-wide, for his outstanding parodies and impersonations of various, distinct, cadre members.

With sunglasses on, and a fake dip placed in his lower lip, his impersonation of one particular cadre member gained an audience of cadre who constantly cheered for encore after encore. Of course, in the military, there is a time to have fun, and a time to be serious, especially when your training, as an officer, could ultimately mean the lives of your men in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The great thing about this individual, and the reason why he consistently ranked high amongst his peers, was because he knew the delicate balance between being funny, while taking his training seriously. If you can, find a cadet like this-whose spirit is never broken down from the intensity and tediousness that LDAC will bring you. It may not be the hardest training you have ever been through in your life, however, the incessant changing of plans, FRAGOs, and hours upon hours of hurry-up-and-wait will make having one of these persons around an absolute necessity.

If your LDAC experience is anything like mine, chances are that your entire platoon (40+ Cadets) will only have 1 washer and 1 dryer to use for your entire regiment cycle. The numbers definitely won't be in your favor, however, it is possible to make this rather crappy laundry to machine ratio work.

Here is what my platoon did, and a 'laundry-free-for-all' during every waking hour wasn't exactly the most effective, or efficient, way of handling this situation. By simply maintaining a consistent output of laundry during our fireguard shift, we were able to get quite a bit of laundry done in a single night. This meant that we would essentially leave our laundry bags along the wall leading to our combination latrine and laundry room, on the evening before, and each new fireguard would be responsible for rotating laundry in and out of our single washer and dryer.

Each new morning would greet our platoon with roughly 10-20 loads that had been completed. On top of this success, we ensured that fireguard shifts were never over 30 minutes long. Even though this meant that most had to pull a shift every night, our platoon was willing to make this trade-off for shorter shifts, and an extra half-hour of sleep every night.

This simple plan worked well for our platoon's numbers, and it's definitely something you may want to consider doing immediately when you go to LDAC. While you will be evaluated individually on a variety of garrison and tactical field leadership positions, you will find many instances, like this, at LDAC, where you'll have no other choice but than to rely on others and work as a team.

A simply unavoidable occurrence during LDAC will be the massive lines that you'll stand in in order to accomplish even the most minuscule tasks. From your medical in-processing to a variety of training events and chow, be prepared for the serpentine like pattern of cadets quickly snapping to attention, moving forward for 2 feet, and standing at parade rest, only to repeat those steps at least 100 times before they reach their final destination.

Although tedious, especially when baking in the hot summer sun, be sure to bring a Ranger Handbook or TACSOP to read while you wait. In fact, a TACSOP will, more than likely, be one of the many required elements of your daily uniform wear. By the time you depart to conduct STX lanes out on the field, you'll probably have a good portion of it memorized.

While at LDAC, many cadets wore the old Army helmet, while several, like myself, had the new Army ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet). Ultimately, the helmet that you take to LDAC, and wear, rests on the shoulders of your ROTC program, and whatever type they choose to issue to you. For those National Guard SMP (Simultaneous Program) Cadets, they may have been issued the ACH from their assigned home unit, and may not have had to rely on ROTC to issue them very much gear, if any at all.

There are several elements to the Kevlar Helmet, and these vary slightly depending on whether you were issued the old-style helmet, or the ACH. Regardless of the type of helmet you take to LDAC, you should really do all you can to have it squared away prior to leaving for LDAC. In fact, my packing list actually specified what LDAC considered a 'complete Kevlar'. Not only should you have the Kevlar covering, but you should also have an interior sweatband (for the old-style helmets).

For the new ACH-type helmets, they don't have interior sweatbands, but, rather, they have padding that nestles quite nicely on your head. Having been in the army for 8 years now, I've used both and really never noticed there being that much difference between the interior sweatbands, and padding, in terms of comfort. After 12 hours strait of daily STX lane, and patrolling, training, rest assured, your sweat band will be absolutely soaked, leaving behind a permanent sweat mark that will be imprinted in your sweatband probably until you turn it back in to your ROTC's supply sergeant.

According to my packing list, LDAC will also required you to have an elastic name band that extends around the entire perimeter of your helmet. Chances are, you'll be issued this by your ROTC program, as well. Just prior to leaving for LDAC, I did find a service through U.S. Cavalry that actually allows you to have your last name, blood type, and last initial/last four of your SSN#, customizably embroidered on your name band. It really looks high speed, and a hundred times better than simply writing your last name across your name band in black permanent marker. In my honest opinion, that just looks cheesy.

Aside from the moderate sexual innuendo contained in this 'chapter's' title, a degree of humor provides a perfect segue into our next topic of consideration: Land Navigation. As you brave Fort Lewis' Land Navigation course, with the majesty of snow-capped Mt. Reineer overlooking to your permanent East (Hint!), a degree of humor should certainly be maintained. Course assignment may come down to the 'luck-of-the-draw', with respect to perceived difficulty, for both your day, and night, land navigation practical exam.

While one course may have you searching for points among heavy brush and thickets, another course may guide you through completely open fields. Unfortunately, a full account of my experience with land navigation could elicit chapters upon chapters of detailed information that could be reserved for a published novels adornment of a shelf at Barnes and Nobles. On this webpage, however, I will cover several aspects of Land Navigation, thoughtfully intertwined with my other detailed 'chapter' writings.

For now, at the very heart of Land Navigation, in order to be successful, it is imperative that you go to LDAC with absolute confidence in your skills and abilities. While at your home ROTC program, you *should* be afforded ample opportunity to home in these skills, on both a day, and a night, land navigation course. During this time, it behooves all cadets to pay close attention to classroom instruction, and definitely get to know, and understand the technical aspects of your equipment.

In the context of this website, I will give quite a bit of consideration to Land Navigation. Besides your initial physical fitness test, your Land Navigation Training Day will consist of a written test in the early morning, on into day, and night practical exams that will flow vigorously from the early morning until late at night. During this time, dependent on your preparation, you may find both land navigation courses to be a breeze, or you may find them to be extremely challenging. Typically, day land navigation doesn't seem to pose quite as much of an issue, and challenge, as the many variables of night land navigation does.

As an officer, you will be expected to have full-grasp of any given situation, while discovering and implementing controls that will promote safe mission accomplishment. In the realm of Land Navigation, I will teach you some of my 'lessons learned', as well as, things I did prior to leaving that increased my chances of being successful. Personally, I struggled a bit with Land Navigation, however, you don't have to....if you learn from my mistakes.

As sweat begins to completely saturate your brow, as well as your newly washed ACUs while out in the field conducting STX lane training, you can rest assured that you'll begin to feel yourself becoming forged into a Warrior. It will be at that time when the words "Warrior Forge" will take on a completely new meaning to you, and will wholly validate this alternate naming of the Leadership Development Assessment Course (LDAC).

With DEET bug spray consolidating into your sweat, it won't take long until lit solidifies onto your Eye-Pro, leaving you with just enough visibility to see the next 'warrior' in front of you, or far enough to see the next round of rough vegetation and thickets that you'll have to transverse. There is absolutely no question that you'll be challenged at Warrior Forge. Some cadets may be to prideful to admit that LDAC was challenging, however most cadets will appreciate the rigorous training they received, which, in turn, better prepared them for the greater leadership roles and responsibilities that they would be expected to assume.

Regardless of whether you feel that being called a "Warrior" sounds lame, or not, this is what many cadre will call you at LDAC. With the exception of a few prior service cadets, a cadet who has yet to complete LDAC, and the requirements of their ROTC program, has yet to be fully forged into a U.S. Army Officer, or Soldier. For this reason, you can expect to be called "Warrior", at least until you complete LDAC. In hindsight, "Warrior" doesn't exactly have very many negative connotations associated with it so, even as a prior service cadet, I didn't mind being called it at all. I thought of Leonidas, Xena, and William Wallace, and my mind was put at ease.

By now, you should have been introduced to the concept of 'security' in your MS classes. In your STX and patrolling lanes, you may also be familiar with managing your security element and about how it is typically the first to be emplaced on your objective, and the last to leave. While at security halts or while occupying your ORP, your security perimeter will be continually adjusted accordingly. As simple as it may seem, many cadets may find it easy to become lax on security, especially when the idea of taking a knee, and facing outwards, just about nearly every 5-10 steps, begins to take it's toll on one's body and knees.

Even still, the concept of 'security' has endured for decades. No matter how many regiment cycles arrive at, and pass through LDAC, in the coming years, basic concepts like this will more than likely never change. This should give you incredible insight into the importance of security, and how it applies to leadership and it's priority in safeguarding the lives of the men and women who will one day serve their country, under your leadership.

From Sea-Tac Airport to For Lewis and back on to your home of record at the conclusion of LDAC, it's absolutely imperative that you maintain security of all your gear and personal items, at all times. Padlocks will be required on your packing list, however, simply having them in your possession won't save your valuables from being stolen or accidentally 'walking-off', only to never be seen again. You brought these padlocks for a reason. Bring extra if you need to, and slap them on everything from your wall-locker, to your duffle-bag(s), and attach the extras to your personal bag, if you want to.

Unfortunately, I have heard many nightmare stories from cadets who had forgotten to do something so simple as secure their baggage, or wall-locker. In my LDAC adventures, I can recall one cadet, who will remain nameless, telling me how he didn't even bother putting a lock on his duffle-bag for his enroute travel to Fort Lewis. He never had any issues, however other cadets did. Not only do you want to make sure all your gear is ALWAYS secure, but even if it is, do let any of your duffle-bags or luggage out of your site....Ever.

As soon as you step off the plane in Washington, you will be exposed to a mesh of personalities en-route to LDAC in droves. Even though you may not know exactly what is going on, don't be discouraged, no matter how well they pretend, there will be many cadets who don't know what's going on either. As cadets begin to navigate the vast expanse of Sea-Tac Airport, all while looking like little Lemmings being led to the slaughter, following the biggest crowd, at that time may not be such a bad idea.

Even still, whether at Sea-Tac, or fully integrated into your Squad/Platoon more than a week into LDAC, there is destined to always be that one Guy (...or gal...) who will defy reason and exemplify what it means to be a 'special-case'. Throughout LDAC, you'll think to yourself "If they actually Comission this guy as a U.S. Army Officer.....the world will probably come to an end sooner, rather than later....". This cadet (i.e. THAT cadet) may exhibit a wide plethora qualities and traits that are clearly unbecoming of a U.S. Army officer. It is one thing to be confident and motivated, but, you can rest assured that "THAT cadet" will be incompetent, thoroughly unsafe, or just a down-right prick that noone likes.

It is up to you, young grass-hopper, to not be "THAT guy". While your personality is established already, it will behoove every cadet, who is about to depart for LDAC, to work on becoming a well-rounded, competent and safe, team player that will be respected by your peers (Remember those Peer evaluations we talked about earlier?). You wouldn't be at LDAC if you hadn't shown at least some degree of leadership potential, so, make the most of it, but, ensure that you prepare yourself physically, and mentally, to not be "that guy" prior to leaving.

As you continue to read this page, I will provide a list of things, whether made-up, or from personal experience, that cadets have done to be 'that guy' in the eyes of their fellow cadets, and cadre. Whether funny in hindsight, or dangerous all around, you will definitely not want to do these things, or forever suffer being remembered as "that guy" when all your peers return to their home institutions and begin relaying stories. Who knows....if your'e out to make a name for yourself, you could always show up in a lengthy blog....lol.

• A more streamlined/altered packing list that best accommodates training events and activities.
• Slight modifications to training event scheduling, and when certain events will actually be conducted. As LDAC continues to evolve, certain training events may be trimmed, or added, as has become customary over the years, dependent upon a variety of factors.
• Continued emphasis on training that reflects modern day Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of operation needs. In Fort Lewis, while the training environment better resembled the Jungles of Vietnam or Cambodia, great effort was made to inject as many of the 'real-life' stresses of combat into STX Lanes/Patrolling/and your general occupation of the TTB (Tactical Training Base). Just short of importing millions of buckets of sand into the thick vegetation of LDAC, I do anticipate that, with each new year of LDAC, that greater consideration will be given to keeping the training environment, and scenarios, as closely related to current overseas military operations.
• Towards the tail end of my LDAC rotation, I heard *rumors* of possible changes in the evaluation system/process. Right now, Cadets currently earn an N, S, or E overall at camp, for their performance on a variety of training events, and required leadership evaluations. I *heard* that a Pilot test was going on where different evaluations would be tried, in order to gauge their overall effectiveness. The evaluation process may certainly change in the future.
• The use of high-speed platinum/steel alloy exoskeletons. (Sure, I just threw this in for kicks, however, who knows, this may be possible one day in the future, afterall, Popular Science is already running articles on them!)