Army LTC

[RockyMtnNFO]

Does anybody here know anything about the Army's "Leadership Training Course"? One of my Nuclear prospects is thinking about going and I have never heard of it.

They say that it is a free, no obligation month in KY where you learn about leadership but my Spidey sense is tingling and I am thinking that this is a 4 week recruiting schpeel (SP?).

If anyone has any info, I would be grateful.

R/

Steve

 

[TheBubba]

http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/leaders_training.jsp

Looks like its a way to get into a 2-year commissioning program. Just skimmed the web page, but I'd say its a recruiting tool.

 

[Stearmann4]

LTC is legit. It's conducted at Ft Knox, KY but my impression is it's usually attended by ROTC cadets. I Googled LTC and most of the descriptions refer to it being "An inital entry poiint for ROTC cadets who are executing a 2-year scholarship, or who don't have any prior military experience."

It's free, but your command will still have to pay for perdiem, lodging, etc. I guess the course's validity is based entirely on what your Sailor sees as the benefits. If he has plans of going to Army OCS, or just wants to see how the other half lives, it'll probably be a worthwhile experience. The Navy is not known for it's dynamic leadership courses.

Mike-

 

[Stearmann4]

"The Leadership Training Course consists of 32 action-packed days of training conducted at Fort Knox, Kentucky normally during the summer between your sophomore and junior year. It is required for those who have not received academic credit for both MS I and MS II classes and would like to enter the Advance Course to become commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army, National Guard, or Reserves. Drill sergeants conduct some of the training, however Leadership Training Course is not Basic Training and the course is designed to evaluate your leadership abilities and teach you the same skills you would have learned in MS I and MS II classes taught on campus. You will be paid a stipend to attend Camp Challenge."

If this clarifies anything...

 

[Rasczak]

PM WishIcouldFly. He attended.
All in all, he'll play army for 4-5 weeks and then come home. You can hope that he won't take all the lovely things they offer him in the end. Hopefully, old boy will have the sense to choose which is right for HIM. That's all it is. It's still his choice if he wants to join. Should he accept any of the scholarships or stipends offered to him, he's stuck. Though that doesn't hold to the stipend he is given for attending.

Just make sure he doesn't sign any contracts. Seriously. They tried to get me to sign a contract before I was to leave. I said no and walked out the door. I did get a free eye exam out of it though.

 

[RockyMtnNFO]

Just make sure he doesn't sign any contracts.

That's the same advice that someone once gave me prior to a "camping" trip in Maine a few years back.

Steve

 

[60B Rotorhead]

I remember that "camping" trip well hopefully you all "decided" to go in the spring, summer, or fall and not the winter like a friend of mine did.

 

[mts4602]

LTC from my understanding is just a way to make up for 2 missed years of ROTC. If you are just ending your sophomore year and decide you want to join ROTC you have to make up for the missed classes and such. From my experience with Army ROTC, I'm sure it's a joke...I wouldn't go. You are probably wasting your time. When I was in Army ROTC nothing was taken seriously at all. If you want an easy way to get a commission where you can slack off then do ROTC. I can't speak for other services though, just the Army.

Personally I think everyone should have to go the OCS route. Maybe this course is tough...probably not though.

 

[TheBubba]

I will disagree with you on everyone having to go through OCS. Granted, this is mostly b/c I'm an Academy guy. The stuff that is taught in OCS is taught at the Academies as well. However, the Academies (and ROTC) give you at least a little bit of real world experience with their respective branches. You also get exposed to more than just an indoctrination style environment. For at least 2 of your 4 years, you hold leadership billets and effectively run your company/battalion/regiment etc. Student get to set certain policy and adjudicate those who violate it (with in certain limits). And we get the indoc style stuff for a whole school year... and have to balance it with a larger than average course load. OCS would be extremely redundant for us.

 

[Stearmann4]

Personally I think everyone should have to go the OCS route. Maybe this course is tough...probably not though.

Take the easiest commisioning path you can manage, cuz trust me when I say that 2 years in hard labor at Leavenworth couldn't adequately prepare you for the weekly kick in the nuts the Army has waiting for the unsuspecting 2LT.

 

[mts4602]

Bubba, I'd agree with you on that. I forgot about the academies.

Stearmann, I guess I just think that though OCS might suck, in my opinion it produces better Officers because they expect more out of you. People that fail out of OCS could be commissioned through some ROTC units. At least at the unit I was in.

**I'm sure there are some great ROTC units that expect a lot of people. I'm just basing this on the one I was in and some others I have seen.

 

[Rasczak]

**I'm sure there are some great ROTC units that expect a lot of people. I'm just basing this on the one I was in and some others I have seen.

You should have said that from the very beginning. I was about to let go on you :icon_rage for applying localized thing to every unit. I know for a fact that the Army ROTC unit at my school is good. They have a good command and for the most part are pretty level headed. Though their PT could use some work, it made me kind of soft :icon_tong, atleast at this place, they knew what they were doing.

Also, if I was you, I would wait before making claims about different commissioning sources producing better officers until you are actually in a service. You, like myself, have no right to judge the quality of officers that come out of any of those commissioning sources, and making a claim like that will only make you out to be the fool.

 

[skidz]

LTC is an absolute joke. I go to a school with an Army ECP and many of the cadets go through it. They are called LTC-rangers by the prior service guys as the program is pathetic in comparison to the other initial courses(ie: boot, basic, OCS, etc. excluding OTS).

 

[BarrettRC8]

Does anybody here know anything about the Army's "Leadership Training Course"? One of my Nuclear prospects is thinking about going and I have never heard of it.

They say that it is a free, no obligation month in KY where you learn about leadership but my Spidey sense is tingling and I am thinking that this is a 4 week recruiting schpeel (SP?).

If anyone has any info, I would be grateful.

R/

Steve

I attended LTC during the summer of 2004. Its a month long course that is geared towards individuals seeking to become MSIIIs in Army ROTC who have not been in the program beforehand. In short, it allows you to complete ROTC in 2 years as opposed to the 3/4. Despite Skidz comments, I thought it was a good course. I'd say it equates more to bootcamp than OCS as its more geared towards teaching you the basics of soldiering, though there are a number of chances to exhibit leadership through the exercises they give you. As a testament to its quality, I came back to my Army ROTC program, one of the best in the nation, and was not only more than comfortable functioning as an MSIII, I was at the head of the pack.

Though it was all for naught as I ended up getting out to go into the Marine Corps :icon_tong