Summer CULP Program

PotentialParent

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My son is at Fort Knox this week, preparing to go over to Latvia for three weeks, with the CULP program. The CULP program is available to ROTC participants, and seems like a great opportunity. Here is a link for anyone interested for next summer.

http://www.cadetcommand.army.mil/culp/

Any other parents have someone heading out for the program?
 
Lithuania

My DD leaves on June 3rd for a stop in Kentucky and then on to Lithuania. Very excited for her. What an experience it will be!

Good luck to your son!!
 
That looks awesome! Does the Army pay for it for foreign language majors? I've heard of Project G.O. scholarships.
 
That looks awesome! Does the Army pay for it for foreign language majors? I've heard of Project G.O. scholarships.

CULP is paid for by the Army, cadets are also paid for their time and receive additional CLIP money after the trip is completed.

You do not need to be a foreign language major to participate in CULP. The only requirement to apply is that you need to be a contracted AROTC cadet by the time you submit your application. The application process starts early in the school year, for MS1's this means you need to be a 4 year scholarship cadet that passes the APFT and contracts soon after starting your freshman year. CULP is also available for MS2 cadets that contract the start of their sophomore year.
 
My son is at Fort Knox this week, preparing to go over to Latvia for three weeks, with the CULP program. The CULP program is available to ROTC participants, and seems like a great opportunity. Here is a link for anyone interested for next summer.

http://www.cadetcommand.army.mil/culp/

Any other parents have someone heading out for the program?

There is an MSI from my school who will be going to Latvia with your son.
 
Hi,

I've looked at these programs with the links provided and they all look to be language immersion focused. Are there any other summer opportunities out there for MSI cadets for after freshman year? If so, could you please share. From reading on this forum, it seems like most opportunities are for MSIII and MSIV.

Thoughts?
 
The focus for most adventure summer training is on the sophomores. Airborne, air assault, mountain warfare and CULP trips are predominantly given to sophomores. Because CULP is being promoted more freshmen are getting the opportunity to go. One thing for students looking into Army ROTC to ask when they visit a Battalion is how many slots/how competitive it is. Some programs are more proficient at getting these slots than others. I would tell you most of the Cadets at Clarkson have the opportunity to train during the summer if they are contracted.

Juniors usually have some summer training opportunities to go along with their LDAC. Army internships and CTLT are the predominant opportunities, but some schools may have a some extra adventure slots that get handed to juniors. MS IV should be moving on to BOLC, so they usually aren't in the mix for training slots.
 
Hi,

I've looked at these programs with the links provided and they all look to be language immersion focused. Are there any other summer opportunities out there for MSI cadets for after freshman year? If so, could you please share. From reading on this forum, it seems like most opportunities are for MSIII and MSIV.

Thoughts?

As far as CULP goes, the information does seem to focus on language immersion but in reality it's not really the case. My son is not even taking a language in school, he went to Bosnia and knew none of the language. Cadets that were taking Arabic ended up in Vietnam. The program is much more centered around the culture. Some of the CULP missions are language based but it is the cadets teaching english to the locals.

Other then Project Go which is centered more around language there are very few opportunities for cadets for the summer after their freshman year.

The most number of opportunities for summer training is for MS2 cadets. It is a lot harder for MS# cadets to get slots for schools since they will be attending LDAC, there are exceptions. MS3's usually attend LDAC and then a CTLT either before or after LDAC, a pretty full summer. There are no opportunities for MS4's because they graduate and commission at the end of the year.

Don't pass on the opportunity of CULP because you think it might be focused of Language. CULP is a great opportunity, my son loved it, had a great time, I think his words were "Best summer ever"

Clarkson, you type faster then me.
 
Thanks to both of you guys. Very informative..

What advice should I give my DS who will start his 4 yr scholarship in Aug? Anything in particular to begin addressing these opportunities? and when?
 
Thanks to both of you guys. Very informative..

What advice should I give my DS who will start his 4 yr scholarship in Aug? Anything in particular to begin addressing these opportunities? and when?

His main focus right now should be working out and running...a lot.

The first thing he will do when he gets to school is take his APFT. The best thing he can do is get a good score. This is the first measurement the cadre can use in evaluating the cadets.

The applications for CULP start early, usually before midterm grades are released. The only thing the cadre will have to look at is your son's APFT and how he is doing in ROTC, it will be early in the year so there won't be much ROTC wise to evaluate the cadets other then the APFT, just make sure he doesn't miss any classes and is on time.

NOt sure if it's this way at other schools but my son's battalion selected those he wanted to recommend for CULP, if you wanted to be recommended then you needed to be towards the top, a good APFT will be a great start to get you there.

There is really nothing else he can do right now, just make sure he fills out any paperwork they send him and tell him to start to researching the 104R form. The sooner all his paperwork is completed the sooner he can contract once he starts school. Only contracted cadets can apply for CULP. Once he starts school he should let the cadre know of his interest in CULP, not really a need to do it before school starts.

Push Ups, Sit Ups, and Running should be his priority now....and tell him to make sure they are all meeting Army regulations.
 
Thank you so much. I will discuss this with him. He is running right now and doing some conditioning. I think he can do a whole lot more. We are working on it.

Actually yesterday, we completed his 104r form. He has some questions for his advisor so that's almost set. Couldn't call today because he had his wisdom teeth extracted.

I can't begin to tell you have much I value all the wisdom here. Thanks so much
 
My son just arrived in Latvia after being at Ft. Knox. Sounds like it will be an interesting experience for them.
 
Thailand arrival

My son just arrived in Latvia after being at Ft. Knox. Sounds like it will be an interesting experience for them.

Another group landed in Thailand today, left one group member behind when passport went MIA through no fault of theirs. Hoping it appears so can rejoin team but only has a few days to reconnect.

Gotta love techonology; DS already texting without using his phone plan.
 
speaking of communication with your cadet/mid overseas --

Via the Internet, which is free assuming your cadet/mid can hook up to an Internet Router:

-Anyone with a facebook account can video chat... via skype I think, but it's all done inside of Facebook

-If you have a Verizon cellphone, your cadet/mid can text you via their Internet email by addressing the email to: your 10 digit cellphone#@vtext.com I assume the same can be done via Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. if you just get the correct email extension. This is important when voice calls are $2.80/min (in some countries), and texts are expensive too via the cell phone. When your cadet/mid texts from their internet email this way, you can also reply to their Internet email out of your cellphone. Paradoxer, I assume this is how your cadet is texting you?
 
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Communication

speaking of communication with your cadet/mid overseas --

Via the Internet, which is free assuming your cadet/mid can hook up to an Internet Router:

-Anyone with a facebook account can video chat... via skype I think, but it's all done inside of Facebook

-If you have a Verizon cellphone, your cadet/mid can text you via their Internet email by addressing the email to: your 10 digit cellphone#@vtext.com I assume the same can be done via Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. if you just get the correct email extension. This is important when voice calls are $2.80/min (in some countries), and texts are expensive too via the cell phone. When your cadet/mid texts from their internet email this way, you can also reply to their Internet email out of your cellphone. Paradoxer, I assume this is how your cadet is texting you?

Since it was about 2am didn't get the details, but do know DS is using a different phone number. Believe he is using WIFI with app, he's also using voice texts to chat with his girlfriend so they can hear each other's voices. Don't believe he's used the Facebook method yet, guess the key is many ways these days to communicate for very little cost.
 
Voxer

speaking of communication with your cadet/mid overseas --

Via the Internet, which is free assuming your cadet/mid can hook up to an Internet Router:

-Anyone with a facebook account can video chat... via skype I think, but it's all done inside of Facebook

-If you have a Verizon cellphone, your cadet/mid can text you via their Internet email by addressing the email to: your 10 digit cellphone#@vtext.com I assume the same can be done via Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. if you just get the correct email extension. This is important when voice calls are $2.80/min (in some countries), and texts are expensive too via the cell phone. When your cadet/mid texts from their internet email this way, you can also reply to their Internet email out of your cellphone. Paradoxer, I assume this is how your cadet is texting you?

The app is called Voxer and is free. Basically you send asynchronous audio files to each other that are available about as fast as a text message. The overseas user does need to also have WIFI access and doesn't use their typical phone number.

DS says he's not in Kansas any more and was glad to find familiar breakfast food. Was not that happy with glass bathroom walls, like taking a shower in the living room. :redface:
 
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