Soilders in Training

Army ROTC teaches hard lessons

By: Kyle Phillips

Crouching in a clump of weeds in a field scattered with trees, Cadet Gary Adams tightly grips his rifle, waiting for orders from his commanding officer.

“Enemy bunker,” his squad leaders says, “everyone keep quiet and keep your head down.”

Adams lifts his head, trying to sight the bunker he and his squad are ready to assault.

“Adams, keep your head down!” his squad leader says. But it is too late.

“Adams, you have been hit by a sniper ­- you are dead.”

Shaking his head as he sets down his rifle, Adams lies down, pretending to be dead, leaving the rest of the squad to assault the makeshift bunker without him.

Although, Adams and the two other casualties in his squad that were “killed” walked away, it is with a lesson learned. In these lessons the cadets in NT’s Army ROTC learn to be effective leaders in the chaos of war.

Aside from their normal school schedule and other activities required for the program, the cadets spend one day a week participating in simulated combat situations lead by Maj. Herman Troy, who runs the NT program.

“Our combat training, which is done in our leadership lab, is primarily based around basic Army tactics.” Troy said. “Basically, we are instructing cadets on the basic skills of Army movement and small unit movement techniques.”

Based on a mandate of actual Army training objectives for all soldiers, the training is broken down into component parts that are well-suited for the cadets at the university level.

“The basics are small unit tactics, an example would be what we call movement to contact,” Troy said. “You take a squad, which is normally six to 10 solders, and train them to move from a safe secure base environment into an area that might not be so secure ready to engage the enemy.”

While the cadets are required to run the combat exercises on their own, Troy and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Link are close by to make sure it is done correctly.

“My job is to make sure that they are executing the battle drill correctly,” Link said. “But what I am really looking for is their ability to make decisions when you hit stress and timelines and everything starts to go wrong. I want to see how well they can react and come up with new ideas.”

Although the combat exercises are not the main part of the program, it can be seen as one of the most important to the ROTC.

They use the training to prepare cadets that might be shipped into combat zones when they complete their training.

“Most importantly, we use the terminology we train as we fight,” Troy said, “hence, we train these individuals so that they will be trained and ready to go into combat if that is necessary upon completion of the ROTC program.”

News Doesn’t Take A Holiday

On Memorial Day I went into work at the TV station, even though they told me I could take the day off if I wanted to. I figured that if I went in on a holiday I would probably see some pretty interesting stories being told. I was right. I went out with a photographer and reporter to a Memorial Day service at the Dallas National Cemetery. It was probably one of the most emotional stories I have covered in quite a while. After the service that honored fallen US solders we talked to a woman who had lost her son in Iraq. He had a week left on his second tour of duty before he was to be shipped home for good when he was killed in battle. She was obviously upset, but was at the service to pay tribute to her son and others who have been killed in the war. She was very nice and eager to talk to us, but as the reporter I was with pointed out later, she seemed like she had so much to say she couldn’t stay focused long enough to tell her story. I immediately felt guilty about having a brother who has recently arrived home safely from the battlefields of Afghanistan. It made me wonder if I would be able to go on camera and tell his story if he did not return home. It also made me realize that we are not covering the news for ourselves, it is the people who create the news and it is our job to tell their stories. I am mearly a vessel that carries that news from the people to the people. And although, some people may shun the media, we are here to serve a purpose and if we weren’t here how would people know about what really was happening. It was a very sombering event, and I feel like it is just the beginning of what my career is going to reveal to me. I took some pictures at the service, and I think they captured the mood nicely.

Dog Loft

I recently did a story on a dog grooming salon in Lewisville called the Dog Loft.  THe people that work there are great, and the facilities are really nice.  There boarding rooms have flat screen TVs for the dogs so they won’t get lonely.  You can tell that the people who run the store really care about dogs.

Carl Edwards Wins Samsung 500

Carl Edwards won the race today at Texas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch finished second, with Jimmie Johnson taking third. The race was pretty exciting, and there were a few wrecks. Jeff Gordon had troubles with his car all day, going in and out of the garage the entire race. The race was pretty close the whole time, but in the end Edwards pulled through.

Race Day at Texas Motor Speedway

The race just started at TMS.  No wrecks yet, just a single car spin out and Jeff Gordon is already have car troubles.  With 217 laps left to go it could be anybody’s race.  Here are a few pics of what is happening so far.

Transitioning to Video

I have finally decided to force myself to dedicate more of my time to shooting video. It is very hard to set my still camera down to pick up the video camera instead, but I think that it is for my own good. I made my first serous attempt with a video story this week at the Shak-o-thon that was on the UNT campus. The student organizations were building cardboard houses on campus that they were suppose to live in for a couple of days. Their goal was to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. I thought there were a few flaws in their logic on the project, because it was pushed back a day because of rain. I don’t think that homeless people get to push pause on their lives because of the weather. The last time I checked they are still out there, rain or shine. They also had laptops and extravagant furniture set-ups. But, they were still out there for a good cause so you have to give them some credit. So, when the rain stopped, they got out there with their tape and boxes and began to build there shacks. I was out there with the video camera in the morning and Chase Martinez shot some on the afternoon.  I edited that same night and we got the video on the web. So go check it out let me know what you think. I am always open for criticism.

Opera at UNT

This is the second time that I have covered the UNT Opera this semester. It is always a fun shoot to do because it is easy to get good pictures. The folks over in the opera department are really nice as well. I have never had any trouble with Stephen Dubberly or Paula Homer. They are always really helpful and never mind that we are there covering them. It is a nice change from some of the other music programs at UNT which are a little harder to get a hold of at times to get a picture. The story should come out in the Daily Wednesday, but here is a little preview of what will be in the paper.

Journalism Conference At OU

I sat in on the journalism conference today at OU with professor Parisot in Norman Oklahoma.  It was a interesting experience seeing how professional journalist still get ripped apart in their critiques after they go out and shoot their stories.   The main point of the day was sequences, sequences, sequences.  It turns out that Lisa is not just talking to hear her own voice.  There is a method to her madness after all.   I am going try and go back tomorrow and see what else they are going to talk about and see more critiques.

Taste of North Texas

The 19th annual Taste of North Texas was last night at the Colosseum at UNT. I covered the event for the Daily and wrote a nice little article on it. If you have never been, I would recommend going next year. For the price, I think you get a lot, and you are not chained to a certain type of food. There are restaurants from all over the Denton area ranging from fast food to up scale restaurants. The cool thing about this event is that all of the money goes to the Kiwanis Children’s Clinic to help low-income families get their children health and dental care. The full article is on the NT Daily website where there is also a slide-show.

Sewing UNT

I recently shot a photo story on an embroidery shop that sews patches and logos on clothes, bags and anything that you can think of that can be sewn for NT. This is a pretty interesting place. They building that they work out of is located on Dallas Drive, and looks like a barn. The weird thing about their shop is that it is bright pink. The owner of the business doesn’t know why the previous owner painted it pink, but she says that it has become such a big thing for them that she won’t ever change the color. The process for how these guys work is pretty cool. They have an array of machines in the back room that mass produce hats and shirts with logos on them. They also do a little bit of work on small home sewing machines for custom orders. The place was pretty cool and the people were really nice so I had a good time with this story.

Barack Obama Rally

So, Wednesday I went to cover my first political rally as a working professional journalist. I got a call from my editor Tuesday night saying she needed someone to cover the Barack Obama rally in Dallas the next day. Of course I said yes, despite the fact that I was going to miss two classes, and had about three stories that were half done and due by 5 the same day as the rally. After happily accepting the assignment, I packed up my gear and prepared to for what would turn out to be a very exciting day. When I arrived at Reunion Arena the crowds were already huge and I got the feeling that these people had probably been there for a while. The process to get into the facility was quite interesting. I had to set my camera and all other electronic devices on the ground to be sniffed by bomb dogs. I have never felt so suspicious as I did when I placed my audio recorder that, to the police, could have easily been mis-identified as a bomb detonator. After I cleared security I was led down a narrow corridor that would deliver me to the floor of the rally. The setup was OK for photos. I found myself standing on the railing most of the time so I was able to get over other people’s heads to get the shots that I needed. I have also found it interesting that I see the same journalist at these big events, and most of them are very approachable. I had a good conversation with Neil Foote, who is on the staff at UNT, and a very respected journalist. I am actually going to be posting some pics of the rally on his web site. The day ended with some pretty good coverage, I think. Check out the NT Daily Website for more Pics.

Surviving After War

I have recently been in a situation that made me look at the way our men and woman in the armed forces are dealing with life after war. Some may believe that when a soldier comes home from war that the fight is over for them and they are safe. This is far from true. Many of our men and woman deal with many issues when rotating back into normal life. Handling everyday situations can be very stressful. There is a great audio slide show at mediastorm.org called the Marlboro Marine that follows a Marine that has served in Iraq and comes home to mixed feelings about his civilian life. It gives a good view of what our troops go through while serving overseas and then trying to adjust to coming back home.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1305032444/bctid1308176991