Indiana University Bloomington

Campus Link Newsletter

Spring 2012

IU AFROTC Spirit Outing

On 24 September, 26 Detachment 215 cadets and cadre member, Capt Jerry Chentnik, spent the day at Bradford Woods for the first ever “Det 215 Spirit Outing.” Bradford Woods is a scenic 2,500-acre piece of land owned and operated by Indiana University, located just north of Martinsville, Indiana. In addition to holding educational opportunities for area youths, many college and professional organizations go there to improve team building and leadership skills.

This was a new kind of activity for our detachment. According to sophomore Cadet Scott Rickey, “The Bradford Woods trip was unique because we haven’t done anything like it before in AFROTC, outside of Leadership Laboratory (LLAB). We have gone on trips to different bases before but that was to learn about Air Force lifestyle and operations.”

This outing was also vastly different than what cadets usually experience at LLAB, with the new dynamic of putting all class levels into one team. While this created some extra challenges, junior Cadet Logan Doyle pointed out that this “gave all of the cadets an opportunity to bond regardless of rank or class.”

Senior cadet Col Kayla Bowers said, “Having been through all of ROTC’s real ‘training events’, I thought that the group leadership project and things we did there [Bradford Woods] were great practice for GMC (freshmen and sophomores). Those are the same types of things you will be doing at Field Training, so it was good to have some GMC be able to step up and get some leadership experience.” Most cadets mentioned they really enjoyed getting to know their fellow cadets, especially those not in their class year. Everyone said that they had a great time, would do it again, and highly encouraged everyone to join them in future visits.