Cadet spends rigorous summer preparing for an Army career

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004 | 8:24 a.m.

As fall semester and the return to college classes approach, Valley High School graduate Alicia Frei and her fellow cadets can look back on a summer that will shape the rest of their lives.

Frei, the daughter of Ronald and Karen Frei of Las Vegas, spent over a month involved with an intense basic training of sorts for Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets called "Warrior Forge."

The training prepares cadets throughout the nation between their junior and senior year of college to be commissioned in the Army following their graduation next spring. The training is a mixed bag of physical fitness, endurance, discipline, leadership and Army-unique training that will give the cadets a jump-start when they enter the active duty, Reserves or National Guard as a second lieutenant.

"Warrior Forge is definitely a challenge, but it is a challenge worth taking," said Frei, who took part in the training at Fort Lewis, Wash. "It is a nonstop challenge -- from the 3:35 a.m. wake-up call to the 11 p.m. lights out. I can't wait to get out into the field and challenge my mind as well as my body."

During a 32-day span, cadets are put through a set of rigorous physical and mental tests that at times can stretch them to their limits. They start with the Army's strenuous physical fitness test with timed push-ups, sit-ups and a 2-mile run. The cadets then go through a barrage of physical challenges that range from the rifle range to the gas chamber, a swimming test with rifle and full uniform, and an obstacle course.

The course also tests their leadership ability with a series of field problems designed to draw from what they've learned during three years of ROTC instruction.

"I hope this training will teach me to be a better leader, so that I will be prepared for my future as an Army officer," said the cadet. "Success in Warrior Forge is my goal."

Frei will head back to Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., this fall, where she is a nursing student. "I plan to make a career out of the military as an Army nurse," she said.

In brief