Maj. Dennis Connor, assistant enrollment and scholarship officer for Army ROTC, stood in the Reynolds Coliseum parking lot on Sept. 20, three-ring binder in hand. Nearby, a school bus full of students dressed in military fatigues waited, engine rumbling.
“We want these kids to come out here and have fun, and we want them to see what their friends and buddies do in ROTC,” Connor said. “But the most important thing is, we want them to be safe. Safety always comes first, so that’s what this is about.”
Connor opened the binder and traced his finger over a page.
“This is called a risk assessment. These are some directives from higher headquarters basically saying, ‘by the way, keep these things in mind because these are the types of things, past experience, we know can be dangerous or be a problem.'”
Above, the afternoon sky darkened with the threat of rain, and drops appeared, dimpling the pages in the binder. One page featured a color satellite map of a large stand of trees called Shank Forest near the RBC Center. In a few minutes, the bus would head toward the forest, where AROTC conducts its “Bring a Buddy” event.
Now in its second year, the annual “Bring a Buddy” event furnishes students, most of whom received an invitation from friends in AROTC, with a chance to participate in a leadership-building exercise similar to the ones experienced by cadets.
Armed with paint guns and split into two teams, the students work through several field exercises, such as “force-on-force” and “capture the flag.” After each exercise, staff and senior cadets share tactical wisdom for students to consider during the next round.
By the time Connor pulled into the narrow gravel entrance to the forest, a heavy downpour had developed. He gestured to his left. “This is actually right next to where the… vet school keeps its heard of horses, and then on the other side is where the forestry school does whatever forestry schools do,” he said. “I never knew it existed.”
Connor, a retired Vietnam veteran who served as a helicopter crew chief in 1967, agreed to return to active duty for two years to help the Army recruit new cadets.
“I worked in civilian industry for a long time, and saw where they were asking for retirees who were willing to come back and help out, and I felt like, ‘yeah, I would like to do that,” Connor said.
According to Maj. Jeffrey Robertson, recruiting operations officer for AROTC, the Army authorized the retiree recall as part of a larger recruiting, training, and expansion effort.
“The Army is growing very quickly,” Robertson said. “They need more officers, more soldiers, because after the first Gulf War, as I’m sure you know, we downsized to very low levels, and so now we’re trying to grow the Army as quickly as we can to meet this global terror threat.”
Robertson said that increased funding for scholarships and program improvements has helped generate greater interest in ROTC.
“For the past two years, we’ve had the highest enrollment we’ve had for about 15 years, and that’s in a time of war,” Robertson said.
Master Sgt. Samuel Carlson, senior AROTC military instructor, said the program would only continue to grow.
“It’s projected that we’re going to become… for lack of a better word, a more prestigious school in the realm of ROTC, where we’ll get bigger missions for more cadets, bigger funding and a bigger cadre.”
Phillip Yeakey, a senior AROTC cadet majoring in forest management, said a large share of the credit for this success belongs to the officers who run the ROTC program.
“We actually have a really good cadre in here right now that have these experiences, past combat veterans, majors, captains, with 10-plus years in the military, and that are really instilling in these soldiers valuable things they’re going to need when leading troops,” Yeakey said.
Upon arriving at the paintball area, cadets organized the students into two teams, one with green masks and one with black masks. The paintball area was actually a large, sloping field that ran alongside the gravel drive, overgrown with tall weeds and punctuated by trees and piles of brush.
Under the shelter of a large pine tree near the drive, Senior Cadet and political science major Alexander Herbert outlined a lesson on tactics. Next to him, a large tablet on a presentation stand featured a marker drawing of a flank maneuver the rain had already transformed into fuzzy pink rivulets.
“One large team will suppress the enemy and try to keep their heads down while the other team moves around,” said Herbert. “The intention is for one team to get perpendicular views on the enemy, so you have interlocking fields of fire.”
At first, both teams seemed disorganized and timid, and Carlson admonished them.
“You gotta get up there, you gotta be bold, you gotta advance, or you’re gonna be dead,” he told them.
Then, in the second round, Stephanie Heim, a freshman in mechanical engineering at Central Carolina Community College, noticed Sean Bolenbaugh, a sophomore in machining technology at Wake Technical Community College, near the flag. She decided to call out to him.
“I saw him shooting at people, and he was right in front of the flag or whatever, so I told him to go sprint for it, and I’ve got your back,” Heim said.
Bolenbaugh remembered the moment as well. “Best thing to do is get as close to the flag as quick as you can. The majority of everyone laid down cover, kept the other guys off my back, so I grabbed the flag and made a break for it.”
As Bolenbaugh sprinted down the hill toward the starting line, the green team opened up with a volley of fire.
“Get him, get him, get him!” someone said.
But it was too late. The black team had captured the flag.