More than 100 Junior ROTC cadets from across the Department of Defense Education Activity school system arrived at Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Sunday for a weeklong summer camp. On Thursday, the cadets ran through leadership-reaction course, an obstacle course designed to give every cadet a chance to lead a team through a series of timed events. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
More than 100 Junior ROTC cadets from across the Department of Defense Education Activity school system arrived at Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Sunday for a weeklong summer camp. On Thursday, the cadets ran through leadership-reaction course, an obstacle course designed to give every cadet a chance to lead a team through a series of timed events. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
While at the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany leadership-reaction course, Junior ROTC cadets from Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe schools tested took on a series of challenges on June 18, 2015, as part of their weeklong summer camp. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Junior ROTC cadets from Charlie Company 2 tackle a teamwork-building exercise while at the leadership reaction course at U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany, on June 18, 2015. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Junior ROTC cadets from Delta Company 2 tackle a teamwork-building exercise while at the leadership reaction course at U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, Germany, on June 18, 2015. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
More than 100 Junior ROTC cadets from across the Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe school system arrived Sunday to begin a weeklong summer camp held at the Grafenwoehr, Germany, Army installation. While there, the cadets rapelled, went rafting down a river and tackled this obstacle course. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Teamwork was the key to success as more than 100 Junior ROTC cadets from across the Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe school system took on a series of obstacles at the leadership-reaction course in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on June 18, 2015. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Part of the weeklong summer camp the more than 100 Junior ROTC cadets from across the Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe school system was geared toward teaching peer leadership skills. Here, cadets run through a series of obstacles, while each of them take turns acting as a squad leader on June 18, 2015. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe Junior ROTC cadets help each other across a water obstacle during a portion of the leadership-reaction course held at Grafenwoehr, Germany, on June 18, 2015. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Junior ROTC cadets come up with a creative solution to an obstacle presented to them at the leadership-reaction course held at Grafenwoehr, Germany. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — This isn’t your ordinary summer camp.
More than 100 cadets from the Department of Defense Education Activity-Europe school system are attending the annual Junior ROTC camp currently being held here this week.
The cadets, all between 14-18 years of age, went swimming on Monday. But rather than setting the stage for a leisurely game of Marco Polo, the cadets instead went through “drown proofing” training – learning how to use the clothes on their backs as flotation devices.
The fun and games continued throughout the week.
The high school students went canoeing on the Wiesent River and rappelled down a tower on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, they were given the chance to show off their peer leadership skills at the leadership-reaction course.
Here, the cadets tackled a variety of timed obstacles as a team. While each of the obstacles was technically passable in the allotted time, the teams that worked together saw much more success than the ones that didn’t. That lesson, said one cadet, is what they took away from the course on Thursday,
“Nobody was really the leader. We had everybody come together as one to bring up different ideas,” said Breanna Arnold, a second-year cadet from Baumholder. “You shouldn’t have one leader because that tends to cause problems, so you have to have everybody with different ideas come together.”
