On Thursday, January 17, 2019, Eastern Washington University (EWU) Cadets learned how to operate a ASIP radio and proper reporting procedures during their weekly Leadership Laboratory. The Cadets are part of the Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Fighting Eagles Battalion that trains students on the EWU to become future Army officers.
MS-IV Cadet Commanding Officer Haley Bent briefs Cadets before conducting weekly Leadership Laboratory.
The primary trainers for the lab were the MS-III (Junior) Cadets. The lab gave them practice preparing and executing the training plan for the MS-I (Freshman) and MS-II (Sophomore) Cadets. During the lab, the EWU ROTC Cadets rotated through three stations where they received instruction on how to operate the ASIP radio, perform a SALUTE report, and a situation report (SITREP). During the first station each Cadet had the chance to put an ASIP radio together and set it up to the right channels and frequency to communicate with each other. In the SALUTE report station, Cadets were placed on a hill overlooking a mock scene replicating an enemy position and had to collect information using binoculars. The Cadets then had to use proper SALUTE procedures to report what they saw at the enemy position to their higher headquarters.
MS-III Cadet Chad Triplett trains EWU ROTC Cadets on how to operate an ASIPS radio.
The last station Cadets were trained on was the SITREP station. Cadets were taking the SALUTE report they created at the last station and formed it into a SITREP. This report provides for detailed information for the chain of command. A sitrep is used for giving the commander a report of what their unit is seeing. These stations are bettering the Cadets to use proper communication with the ASIP radio and what reports to use on the radio system.
EWU Cadets train on how to identify and report enemy troop activity.
In the Army we have a saying “Shoot, Move, and Communicate”. During the Fall quarter the EWU ROTC Cadets did plenty of shooting and moving. During Winter quarter the Cadets are now learning how to properly communicate. All the skills the Cadets are learning will prepare them for squad operations training in future labs and for the winter field training exercise (FTX) that is coming up in March.
Go Fighting Eags!
Looks like everything was well prepared and functional. Good job done by all. For those of you attending advance camp this summer, at Fort Know, will be well prepared. Congratulations to the Fighting Eagle command for such trianing.
Mr. Watson, thanks for the comment. It was good training though we had to move some of it inside because of the persistent rain that was falling. The Cadets still got to experience a bit of cold, wet, and mud outside though when they had to use binoculars to record the enemy position and report it back to headquarters.
We will continue to build their radio skills in upcoming labs this quarter.