One of my fellow cadets came to me with a great suggestion for stress relief:  Here are some thoughts I had when I noticed a campus announcement for stress management seminars some time back. The advertisement read as follows: “The Counseling Center is offering a free Relaxation Response Training seminar on Thursday, November 8, 2:30 - 3:00 pm in the JSAC, Butler Meeting Room.  Learn how to use strategies proven to lower stress and promote better well being.  Participants will learn how to use deep breathing, passive progressive relaxation and visual imagery techniques. . . ” blah blah blah!  I chuckled and wondered as to the practical usefulness of it.  I thought we could have the school put out some announcements for real stress management training on behalf of the ROTC department: “Reputable leadership studies have shown that while intelligence is highly useful to a leader in solving problems, exceptional intelligence is useless when it comes to highly stressful situations. Two ways to overcome this phenomenon are to increase tolerance for stress and to increase the level of experience. This is exactly how the United States Army trains its leaders and precisely why corporations consistently choose experienced veterans over their peers. If you want to become Army Strong and distinguish yourself from your peers, contact the ROTC department.”  The information is based on the Cognitive Resource Theory which I studied in Organizational Leadership last semester.  -Craig Spencer 

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I was walking around campus in my Army Combat Uniform (ACUs) and I was approached by a number of people who were curious about the Augusta State Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program. So I decided my first entry should give a little background on the program.

The Augusta State ROTC program has been around for over 25 years. Each semester, we train college students to lead America’s young men and women. The skills learned in ROTC help in all walks of life, not just the Army.

We have weekly classes and we also have labs once a month. We try to keep the training fun, focusing on land navigation, marksmanship, confidence courses, and battle drills (with paintball guns!!). One major misconception of the program is that you will be obligated to the Army if you take the courses. Only contracted cadets are obligated. Freshman and sophomores are free to take the course without commitment.

I will post pictures and information from our labs in future entries!

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