A squad of 12 cadets stealthily crept through the woods in Mount Pleasant brandishing dummy rifles, grenades and bazookas. Their mission: find and attack the enemy bunker. The exercise was one of many that were completed from Thursday to Sunday as part of this fall’s Army ROTC Field Training Exercise. 

Take a look at Cornell's ROTC program — there's more to it than you might know!

Danielle Davis was embedded in First Platoon’s Third Squad for the majority of the Field Training Exercise weekend for Saturday and Sunday events.

This weekend, Cornell Army ROTC students joined cadets from Rochester Institute of Technology and Syracuse University on the muddy fields of Ithaca’s Mt. Pleasant for “Operation April Blood”, a four-day field training exercise.

Students were divided into small squads of 12 for the weekend of intensive training.

According to Officer Matthew Meyers, a physical training instructor from Cortland College, which is part of Cornell’s ROTC program, the training provided cadets a better simulation of the real army experience, where they must collaborate effectively with people have never met, according to Officer Matthew Meyers, a physical training instructor from Cortland College, which is part of Cornell’s ROTC program.