University of Nebraska-Lincoln NROTC Conducts Exercise Red Thunder 01-13

LINCOLN, Neb. (NNS) -- The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen participated in a field training exercise, Red Thunder 01-13, March 29-30.

Since 2011, UNL NROTC has conducted a large-scale, multi-day, field training exercise in order to best prepare and educate Marine Corps Option Midshipmen for the potential challenges facing them at Marine Corps Officer Candidates School (OCS) and The Basic School (TBS).

Red Thunder 01-13 was the third installment for the unit, which also included Navy Nurse Option Midshipmen.

During the 2012-2013 academic year, UNL NROTC Marine Corps students completed 70 hours of static classroom training in the areas of day/night land navigation, M4A1 Carbine weapons familiarization, fire team offense tactics, squad offense tactics, and general field and combat skills. Additionally, the Marine Corps Option and Nurse Option students executed 100 hours of organized physical training, to include 30-foot rope climbing, general combat conditioning, and 54-miles of conditioning hikes.

"We take a 'crawl, walk, run' approach to our training," said Sgt. Corey Muller, the exercise's Assistant Officer in Charge (AOIC) and the Lead Tactical Instructor (TACI). "The static classroom events are the 'crawl,' the local practical application events are the 'walk,' and Red Thunder as a whole is the 'run.'"

Exercise Red Thunder 01-13 served as an opportunity for these students to practically apply their classroom knowledge and conditioned endurance in a challenging field environment.

"For a Marine Option Midshipman, outside of actually attending OCS, it doesn't get much bigger than this," said Muller.

To begin the exercise, the students conducted daylight, heli-borne raid with two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from the Nebraska United States Army National Guard in Lincoln.

As the first ever NROTC command to execute helicopter training outside of summer cruises in 2011, UNL NROTC continues to prepare and educate students for a wider range of challenges and solutions to complex problems.

"The helo training acts as a motivational tool to commence the exercise. Few NROTC students ever attempt what we do here. It is a fun ride with wide ranging lessons learned for all," said Major Alex Ramthun, UNL NROTC Marine Officer Instructor (MOI) and the exercise's officer in charge (OIC).

Nineteen students and instructors flew a 30-minute nap of the earth (NOE) insertion route to a Military Operation in Urban Terrain (MOUT) village aboard Camp Ashland's Mead Training Area. The students disembarked the helicopters and assaulted the MOUT village using M4A1 Carbine rifles and 500 rounds of blank ammunition. The village's opposing force (OPFOR), composed of volunteer UNL NROTC Navy Option students, was overwhelmed by the raid force after a long fought battle to take the complex.

Midshipman 2nd Class James Brown, an exercise participant, called the first parts of the exercise a "big rush to depart the helos and attack to secure the MOUT town. The OPFOR did not make it easy on us. We had to fight house to house and room to room. There was so much noise from the battle that you could barely hear yourself think!"

The heli-borne raid introduced the Marine Option students to the detailed planning requirements for successful helicopter operations as well as stimulated their motivation with a small taste of the full spectrum capabilities the United States military has to offer them in the operating forces.

Following the raid training, the students executed a challenging night land navigation course.

Spread out over varying terrain and elevation, the Marine Option midshipmen and officer candidates braved the night environment to navigate to-and-from four different points across 1000-meters.

Midshipman 4th Class Andrew Evans, 19, from Omaha, Neb., said, "I felt confident with my classroom training, but the navigation course was much tougher than I expected. I got all the points correctly, but I worked very hard to finish within the time limit."

After several hours of sleep and recovery time, the students transitioned into the exercise's final phase with a 12-mile conditioning hike. Carrying 45-pound packs of standard field equipment and their M4A1 rifles, the students hiked across difficult terrain at a pace of 3.5-4 miles per hour.

"The hike was a challenge for our students, but what they can expect to do as OCS exceeds what we can simulate here," said Ramthun, a prior Marine Officer Candidate School (OCS) company commander. "The highlands of the Quantico, Va., contain deep foliate and rough terrain. Our hike, though the same distance and pace as OCS, did not have these added distractors."

After a short recovery period, the Marine Option Students executed six squad-in-the-offense training problems. Using a 13-person squad and a designated squad leader, the students were challenged to tactically cross terrain in pursuit of the exercise's OPFOR. Each problem incorporated different terrain and tactical requirements, making each of these events a great learning experience. UNL NROTC's three junior class Marine Option students, slated to attend Marine Corps OCS in May 2013, designed the main effort and they each completed two-squad- in-the offense problems. With a steep learning curve, the junior class students proved themselves ready to attend OCS.

Midshipman 2nd Class Jared Mar, 21, from Lincoln, Neb., said, "The missions we faced as squad leaders definitely challenged us beyond our expectations."

Additionally, the underclass students, acting as squad members during this phase, were able to "learn by doing" and directly contributed to the juniors' OCS preparation. Overall, Exercise Red Thunder 01-13 met its objectives and paved the way for UNL NROTC to commissioning future Marine Corps officers.

Headquartered in Building 1, the historic clock tower building on Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., NSTC oversees 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. NSTC includes NROTC at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command (OTC) on Naval Station Newport, R.I., Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, at Great Lakes, Ill., and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

The NROTC program was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, and loyalty, and with the core values of honor, courage and commitment in order to commission college graduates as Naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the Naval service, and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

For more information about NROTC, visit https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/. For more information about NSTC, visit http://www1.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.