LDAC 2014

-Bull-

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Mar 13, 2009
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If someone can remind me tomorrow if I forget, I can post the notes from an instructor of mine that just got back from the LDAC planning meeting with some of the changes for this year.

Big things:
- No more cluster points for Land Nav
- No squad STX, only Platoon Patrolling
- No FLRC (being built at the bayonet assault course, will be ready FY15)
- No water confidence (Knox doesn't have one)
- Cadets will receive 3 formal counselings (Form 4856), blue cards will be spot reports
- Only 2 evals, 1 comprehensive garrison, 1 comprehensive tactics (don't quote me yet, need to double check specifics)
- They're incorporating some sort of family day into the end of LDAC like LTC, but I don't know or understand the specifics.

A few other things, but I didn't take a copy of the slides home today.

And not that its a big deal, but LDAC will now fall under 1st BDE (based at Knox), rather than 8th BDE like it did at JBLM.
 
LOL, sorry! I got busy and never checked the site. I actually had the changes in my hand. I won't forget tomorrow!
 
Today we were told that it will be one comprehensive garrison eval and one comprehensive tactical eval.
 
Sorry guys, I've been pretty busy this week, but I haven't completely forgotten about this. I'll have the LDAC stuff up here soon
 
Finally. I'll just point out the important stuff, the rest is just filler blah blah stuff. CST= Cadet Summer Training. The majority of this I am copying straight from the source.

The presentation starts out by saying that they are consolidating CST at Ft Knox to synchronize and improve leader development.

Task Organization I won't bore you with, but CST 2014 will comprise of about 14,300 people. 8,060 being Cadets, 367 Staff, and 5873 cadre and support. Largest CONUS based training event in the Army.

LDAC still a 29 day training cycle, 19 nights in the field, still 13 regiments. LTC 29 day cycle, 12 nights in the field.

LDAC Training:
-FLRC- Removed (won't be built til FY15)
-Mission Command- Removed (good, that sucked)
-IED integrated into Cultural Awareness
-Tactics- 2 Days of Cadre led/facilitated missions followed by 3 days of Platoon Ops, integrated CBRN into platoon missions
-Water Confidence- Removed (Slide for life/log walk, rope drop/zodiac ops/stream crossing discontinued)
-Only 1 TTB, AA will be at Land Nav
-Consolidated all LTC and LDAC training committees (apft, confidence, land nav, cbrn, brm, first aid, tactics, cultural awareness) except cwst.

LTC Training:
-Tactics- 4 days Squad STX followed by 1 day of cadre led platoon ops
-Incorporating first aid and CBRN
-Utilizing TTB vs barracks during STX

Evaluations:
-LDAC cadets receive 2 comprehensive evaluations and increased counseling / development time (Day 1-14/Day 15-27) with a day of counseling in between vs. 4 evaluations (LDP cards and CER used)
-LTC cadets receive 3 formal counselings (initial, mid point, and final; all on DA form 4856); Blue cards used as spot reports. Cadets receive summary feedback via CER

Administrative:
-Cadet Initial Entry Training (CIET) pilot during 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th LTC Regiments
-Consolidated in-processing
-Consolidated USACC CST TDA and Master Training Schedule

This is the meat of the training. There are a lot of other things I left out so the MSIII's can experience that for themselves when they get there. From the info on Tactics, it looks like there is going to be a lot more dynamic variables and role-players that will be incorporated into the missions, yet they are still keeping the same base missions ambush and raid. They're looking for decisions under duress. Have fun.
 
Every year they promise to make the training more dynamic. We'll see if it actually happens now that they have a change of scenery. After the cultural awareness training in my cycle, we never encountered any variables other than shoot-em-up OPFOR.
 
Every year they promise to make the training more dynamic. We'll see if it actually happens now that they have a change of scenery. After the cultural awareness training in my cycle, we never encountered any variables other than shoot-em-up OPFOR.

I agree. I speak only enough Spanish to be dangerous and they told us the OPFOR were going to be speaking Spanish, but every OBJ I was on I got nothin...

I'm curious to see how the integration of committees will work. And somewhat surprised Knox doesn't have an FLRC.
 
Nothing? Bueller?

Not even an, "oh dang.."?

Lurker here -- just registered, but wanted to reply to this to tell you that before I could respond to ty (thank you) for all that detailed info, I had to first do my hw (homework) to figure out some of those acronyms. Kind of embarrassing to admit that I don't know most of those. But YES, by all means, THANK YOU!!!

DS is a sophomore at an SMC. Do you know if or when the plans to have CST (see there? I learned something!) between sophomore and junior years might happen? Probably won't happen this summer, but wondering if it might happen next summer. He may quit school for a semester to go to Basic and AIT and so he might actually still be a sophomore after next summer.

What is the difference between LDAC and LTC? A cadet who has finished MS3 goes to LDAC? Who goes to LTC?
 
What is the difference between LDAC and LTC? A cadet who has finished MS3 goes to LDAC? Who goes to LTC?
LTC is for new cadets who missed most of the ROTC classes in the first two years of the program (first two years is also called Basic Course). Only cadets chosen to Contract can move on to Advance Course (years 3 and 4, also called MSIII and MSIV). Even without a scholarship, a student can join ROTC, go to LTC, and come back ready to Contract and enter Advance Course. LTC is not a replacement for LDAC… it is a replacement of the training missed during MSI and MSII years. http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/courses-and-colleges/curriculum/leaders-training-course.html
 
DS is a sophomore at an SMC. Do you know if or when the plans to have CST (see there? I learned something!) between sophomore and junior years might happen? Probably won't happen this summer, but wondering if it might happen next summer. He may quit school for a semester to go to Basic and AIT and so he might actually still be a sophomore after next summer.

I do not know when that new stuff will be fully implemented, there will be a pilot this year, so possibly next. We'll see.

As for the bolded portion, tell him not to, unless he wants to serve in that State's Guard or he absolutely needs the money to finish school. It will not give him a leg up on his branch, component, or life as an officer at this point in the game.
 
Nothing? Bueller?

Not even an, "oh dang.."?

Bull,

Thanks for getting back with "the rest of the story":wink: Copy/pasted in an email to DS (MSIII this year) he will know what all those letters mean(I'm pretty clueless about all LDAC things). Hoping his cadre had someone at the briefings yours were at so the changes can be adapted to their training as potentially needed.

Take care:smile:
 
LTC is for new cadets who missed most of the ROTC classes in the first two years of the program (first two years is also called Basic Course). Only cadets chosen to Contract can move on to Advance Course (years 3 and 4, also called MSIII and MSIV). Even without a scholarship, a student can join ROTC, go to LTC, and come back ready to Contract and enter Advance Course. LTC is not a replacement for LDAC… it is a replacement of the training missed during MSI and MSII years. [/url]

Thank you for that explanation.
 
I do not know when that new stuff will be fully implemented, there will be a pilot this year, so possibly next. We'll see.

As for the bolded portion, tell him not to, unless he wants to serve in that State's Guard or he absolutely needs the money to finish school. It will not give him a leg up on his branch, component, or life as an officer at this point in the game.

Thanks for the info. As for "telling" him what to do, he's in charge of his career and makes his own decisions. I'm just here to understand some portions of his military life so that I can speak intelligently and ask questions that demonstrate how much I care about what he's doing. It is definitely a money thing though. Is it worth the trouble of joining the Guard to get tuition assistance, or is it ultimately more cost-effective to take out loans? He plans to commission in active duty Army. So the ultimate question is: will it be a hassle to get out of his Guard commitment to go active duty, and would the TA have been worth it if separating from Guard ends up being a major hassle? Other hassle component: his home state is 1000 miles away from school state. Will it be a hassle to switch around weekend drill locations on school breaks? Seems easier to me to take out loans. But he's the decision-maker, not me.
 
Thanks for the info. As for "telling" him what to do, he's in charge of his career and makes his own decisions. I'm just here to understand some portions of his military life so that I can speak intelligently and ask questions that demonstrate how much I care about what he's doing. It is definitely a money thing though. Is it worth the trouble of joining the Guard to get tuition assistance, or is it ultimately more cost-effective to take out loans? He plans to commission in active duty Army. So the ultimate question is: will it be a hassle to get out of his Guard commitment to go active duty, and would the TA have been worth it if separating from Guard ends up being a major hassle? Other hassle component: his home state is 1000 miles away from school state. Will it be a hassle to switch around weekend drill locations on school breaks? Seems easier to me to take out loans. But he's the decision-maker, not me.

I'm sure there are others more knowledgeable than I, but it's my understanding that if he takes the Guards money he is committed to the Guard. Active duty will be out of the question. Certainly makes sense to me.
 
I'm sure there are others more knowledgeable than I, but it's my understanding that if he takes the Guards money he is committed to the Guard. Active duty will be out of the question. Certainly makes sense to me.

Admissions office at the school makes it sound like separating from Guard upon graduation/commissioning to go Active duty is just a matter of signing a few documents. Would love to hear some real-world stories though. So far, all the real-world stories I've dug up are stories of woe, that it's not nearly as easy as they make it sound, that it's the Guard unit that has the power to release you, or not. I do not know what is truth and what is recruiting fluff. Wish I could find a handful of success stories to top-off this bucketful of woe.
 
Admissions office at the school makes it sound like separating from Guard upon graduation/commissioning to go Active duty is just a matter of signing a few documents. Would love to hear some real-world stories though. So far, all the real-world stories I've dug up are stories of woe, that it's not nearly as easy as they make it sound, that it's the Guard unit that has the power to release you, or not. I do not know what is truth and what is recruiting fluff. Wish I could find a handful of success stories to top-off this bucketful of woe.

The state NG contract your DS signs when he joins will have some details(google?) also, look at the state NG website for scholarship/TA details. In Ohio, if a NG SMP cadet takes TA and then goes active duty they must repay all money from the state (in state tuition rates are what TA covers here). They also must be released from their SMP unit(which typically isn't a problem since their SMP assignments are not based on their future branch/MOS anyway but typically physical location close to their school).

IF your DS takes a NG scholarship (GRFD I believe is the correct abbrev.) then he would have no recourse but to serve the NG/Reserve. No repayment or active duty available period.

Unless DS is considering dropping out of school due to money - take the loans and get ROTC contracted and skip the NG/Reserves. The experience has been great for my DS, but the hassle is also a big issue - summer drills, drill weekends in the midst of mid-terms/finals the list goes on....

Just my 2 cents and I completely get the idea that he's the decisions maker - its how it works at my house too :thumb:
 
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