Taking off in a Chinook helicopter, ROTC Cadets departed to Fort Indiantown Gap last weekend to conduct a training mission that encompasses all the information they have learned.

Joint Training Exercise (JFTX) is a three-day training event where military science level three cadets take their turns leading fellow cadets on missions through the woods.

“JFTX is [an] eye opening event in order to operate with other people and working together to accomplish a goal,” cadet Laura Altman said.

Leadership development is the corner stone of all ROTC training and the JFTX is no different. During these three days, cadets are graded on their positive and negative attributes as a leader, in order to become better leaders. Cadets use the planning process in order to develop an overall plan that ranges from a recon to a raid of an objective.

“Regardless of the plan at hand, being able adapt to the circumstances will aid in the completion of the plan,” cadet Casey Strunk said.

Cadets from Gettysburg College, Shippensburg University, Dickinson College and Millersville University came together on Friday to develop a shared knowledge on basic infantry tactics. This process is needed so cadets and soldiers are able to rely on the person to the right and left, knowing they have the same training, according to the cadets.

During most of Saturday, cadets would run missions that started with a recon and ended with a paintball fight, coordinated to destroy enemy supply areas.

“Paintballs allowed the mission to present a realistic training due to the real possibility of being hit and notionally killed”, said cadet Coby Sullivan.

On Sunday, the final day of the training, cadets spent the morning rappelling of the sides of buildings. The opportunity to participate in an event such as rappelling presents an exhilarating moment for a lot of cadets as they do not often get the chance to rappel, the cadets said.

Overall, cadets used this weekend to show how well they have trained from the beginning of the year and prepared to enter summer training. JFTX provided leadership development experience and camaraderie at all levels of the ROTC program.

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