Team Fairchild host to ROTC Rising Sophomore cadets for summer program

Published June 9, 2006
By Shadi May
92nd Public Affairs staff writer

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- A group of 38 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets arrived at Fairchild Sunday to participate in Air Force ROTC’s Rising Sophomore Program.

They are among the three groups which the base will host throughout this summer. Each team will spend three weeks observing and training with non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers.

The cadets come from several universities across the country. The program targets freshmen and sophomore students to be exposed to Air Force way of life first hand.

“It’s their first look into the Air Force training which will gain them valuable insights into military life,” said Major Dennis Bernier, 93rd Air Refueling Squadron assistant director of operations and operations Air Force director for Fairchild. “The program benefits both sides because it’s an opportunity for people on our end to share their knowledge and experiences with these cadets who will be future officers in the Air Force.”

While on base, the cadets will shadow NCOs and officers to learn leadership skills. They will have a schedule full of activities from working with aircraft maintenance staff and learning about the Air Force Survival School to working in the medical clinic and flying orientation flights.

“We have scheduled a host of activities to add value to their experience,” said 1st Lt. Brian Marino, 92nd Mission Support Group executive officer and operations Air Force deputy director for Fairchild. “They will get to have some fun, but they will also take with them a better understanding of the diversity of a wing.”

“One of the nice things about Fairchild is that the cadets will get to fly the KC-135 and will be flown to Laughlin AFB, Texas, to fly the Air Force’s trainer aircrafts—T-38 and T-6,” said Col. Kimble Stohry, an Air Force ROTC detachment commander stationed at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

The cadets are assigned to several facilitators, NCOs and officers who mentor them, and at the end of each day, when the facilitators release them, they engage in physical training and review their activities and lessons learned during another mentoring session with Colonel Stohry and his assistant, Staff Sgt. William Kanoy, personnel NCO assigned to the Air Force ROTC detachment unit at University of Missouri.

“They are going to be supervising NCOs, so they need to know how they operate and what the enlisted members expect from officers,” said Sergeant Kanoy “They learn that it is okay to go to an NCO for initial guidance.”

“The purpose of this program for cadets is to observe and focus on their career paths and pick something motivating and challenging so they can say, ‘That’s what I want to do’,” added Colonel Stohry. “Team Fairchild has been superb to help us achieve our goal, but the program is also giving the Fairchild members a chance to make an investment toward the next 30 years of our Air Force. Every team member is important because everybody offers something for the cadets to learn.”

The cadets express that the experience here is “more real than what they have learned in the classroom.”

“Before I came here, I was debating between being an air battle manager and a security forces officer, but after my exposure today to what the security forces do, I definitely want to be a part of them,” said Cadet Rebecca Hsia, an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University student from Prescott, Ariz. “I want to be in security forces because they secure the base, and what they do involves deployments which would give me a chance to help out with what is going on in the world right now, and my degree in Global Security Intelligence Studies should help with that as well.”

Cadet Hsia is not the only one who gained a different perspective as a result of daily interactions.

“I first wanted to work for the Office of Special Investigations because it has to do with my major in psychology, but now, I want to be a pilot,” said Cadet Stephen Labit, who attends Ramapo College of New Jersey. “I really want to be a fighter pilot, but the Air Force gives you jobs based on its needs, so I will be happy with any aircraft as long as I get to fly.”

The one-on-one sessions the students are able to have with various military professionals are the main purpose on which the program focuses so the cadets can put their career goals into perspective.

“I had a chance to speak to a pilot yesterday, and he explained how his job doesn’t feel like work because he loves what he does, so it would be great if I could also do something I love for work,” added Cadet Labit.

“We are getting a leadership aspect of Air Force here because things seem more real here than what we learn in class during our ROTC portions,” acknowledged both Cadets Hsia and Labit. “While it is important to learn the classroom material, which gives us a foundation about the military and the Air Force structure, this summer camp opportunity shows us the reality of what the Air Force is about.”

Fairchild is among several military bases selected across the United States which allows these cadets to live this operational experience.

“These leaders have been teaching us to respect our people, to not pretend we know everything when we are new and to ask questions, and ask for advice from those who have been in the Air Force longer,” said Cadet Labit. “The most valuable lesson we are learning from everyone here is ‘To earn respect, you have to give respect.’”