A Week in Review for Jan 30th for the Clemson Fightin Tigers

February 23, 2017

Week of January 30^th:

This week the Fightin’ Tiger Batallion held two morning PT sessions from 0600-0700 and conducted Land Navigation Training on Crew Hill for Thursday afternoon’s Battalion Lab.

At PT on Tuesday morning, the Battalion competed in a Platoon competition as a way to encourage teamwork, communication, and a good work-out. Broken down into four platoons, each platoon would send one Cadet at a time on a 75-meter sprint to a pull-up bar to do 5 pull-ups or 10 burpees, and sprint back, while the rest of the platoon rotated through 6 different exercises. The first platoon to cycle through every Cadet twice was the winner. Alpha Company’s 2^nd Platoon came in first place.

At the end of PT on Tuesday the Battalion also held a brief Contracting Ceremony for Cadet Hanko. Contracting is a Cadet’s official oath to the United States of America that they will take the next step and commission as a Second Lieutenant after completing their undergraduate program at Clemson. After contracting, many more opportunities open up to Cadets such as Summer Training, Specialty Schools, scholarships, and more. Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Crawford, the Clemson Army ROTC Battalion Commander, read Cadet Hanko his oath to repeat.

During Thursday’s Battalion Lab, MS1 and MS2 Cadets were instructed in basic Land Navigation techniques. They learned to read a topographical map, plot 6-digit grid points, draw and then follow azimuths, and use a lensatic compass. After their initial instruction they were divided into buddy teams and given 5 points to find in the woods on top of Crew Hill using just their map and compass. These skills are crucial for Cadets to master as they continue on their paths to becoming Platoon Leaders and will allow them a better understanding of Battlefield maneuvers and operations.