Alpha Company Cadets steady a wooden board to use as a bridge for transport Friday at the Teamwork Development Course. The Cadets participate in five obstacles and must practice leadership and teamwork to get their entire team across the course without touching the ground or yellow areas from start to finish. Pictured, from right to left, are Robert Bailey from Grambling State University, Robert Merck of Auburn University and Walter Ramos from the University of Peurto Rico. Photo by Heather Cortright/LTC PAO

By Sara Nahrwold
Staff writer

Lying face-up on a single wooden beam, Auburn University Cadet Robert Merck of Alpha Company uses his upper body strength to hoist a stretcher with a dummy representing a wounded Soldier to his waiting teammate at the Teamwork Development Course.

Using each other’s strengths to work in teams, Cadets were put in leadership positions to guide their teams in completing five events.

“We are having different people shuffle in and out as leadership, so we are getting new faces and it gives a chance to everyone to have different roles,” Merck said. “It puts everybody on the same level because we all are going through it at every station. You actually have to see the visual and work it out in your mind how you’re going to get through it and around it effectively.”

The goal of one of the events was to get the team over a wall, along with a can of ammunition, rope and a wooden board.

“We had people laying down using their body as the bridge as other people crawled across carrying the supplies,” Merck said. “That was physically the most demanding.”

Although the TDC takes place early on in the Leader’s Training Course for Alpha Company, the Cadets worked well with each other despite being at the course for less than a week.

“No one seems to be having any issues personality-wise about making new friends or anything,” said 2nd Lieutenant Kathleen Minor, who oversaw a group of Cadets through the course. “Right now they are under a bit more stress because they’ve been thrown into this brand new environment. Most of them haven’t even worn a uniform before, but they are adapting quite well.”

Cadets had to use three wooden beams and figure a way to get from one walled tunnel to the other side for the first event. Holding onto each other’s uniforms while straddling a single wooden beam, four Cadets held their breath as a fellow teammate stretched out as far as possible to lay the next beam across. It fell into the sand below, and the group had to start over with that beam through the obstacle.

Cadets had trouble communicating with each other and listening to their squad leader, making the completion of the first event difficult for themselves.

“At first we were a little bit sketchy, a little bit apart, but after we went on each mission, we found each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we bonded more together,” University of Florida Cadet Rickia McGee said. “TDC is a good test of our skills, our teamwork and it challenges us in different ways and causes us to think outside the box and really put all of our skills to the test.”

After going through all the events, McGee felt herself become closer and stronger with her teammates.

“It helped me greatly trust my team members,” she said. “The closer I get to them and work with them on missions, the more our camaraderie and our morale is built.”

Minor said she has seen friendships begin to form as Cadets completed TDC.

“We’ve got a bunch of different people from different areas and they’re all using this as a way to get to know each other,” she said.

Although TDC was Alpha’s first true test of teamwork since they’ve been at LTC, Merck said teamwork has been building since day one.

“I feel like every day since we’ve been here, we’ve come together more and more as a team,” he said. “We are with the same people every single day, every hour of every day so you can’t help but bond.”