In the field with Hopkins's ROTC Blue Jay Battalion

It had just recently stopped snowing last Friday night when I walked up the slick metal steps to the Johns Hopkins University Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building.

Before Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Pomper and I had even finalized the plans for me to join the Blue Jay Battalion, Hopkins's ROTC cadet corps, on their Field Training Exercise (FTX), he had spoken to me about how embedded journalists sometimes inconvenienced troops.

Within minutes of my entry, I had already begun to do so.

The previous week I had been issued equipment to wear during the weekend of exercises. It was stored in a locker in the ROTC building.

Unfortunately, the key to said locker was locked inside the supply room, and the supply technician had already left.

"Major Bushyager is on his way," Second Lieutenant Joseph Henderson, the cadre member taking the remaining several cadets and me to Edgewood training facility that night, assured me.

"He'll have a plan. He always does."

"Like the time he kicked in one of the doors," a cadet added cheerfully.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Major Jeremy Bushyager, the enrollment officer, entered the building.

However, this time he took a more delicate approach to gaining entry to the supply room, finagling the window open enough to undo the latch and allow a cadet to jump in.

Once I was "squared away," (the Army way of saying once I was no longer a hopeless mess) we set off in a van, with Bushyager leading us in an SUV.

Country music is apparently Continued from Page A1

an important part of any drive with members of the ROTC, and singing along was basically a requirement.

"You should have seen them the time we had a Disney CD," Henderson told me over the shouting of Tim McGraw lyrics.

However, the real excitement began shortly after I dumped my borrowed army gear in the barracks.

While I would be spending the night in the barracks with the seniors (MS-IVs), sophomores (MS-IIs) and freshmen (MS-Is) cadets, the juniors (MS-IIIs) were spending the night at a patrol base they had set up.

Basically, they had their sleeping bags on the ground in the middle of the woods.

The MS-IVs had planned a bit of a surprise for the MS-IIIs that night. Shortly after arrival, I set out with them for an ambush.

Armed with real M-16 rifles loaded with blank ammunition, they started down the road in two lines. Cadets had to leave five to 10 meters in between each of them, to minimize casualties in case of a grenade, the blast radius of which is approximately five meters.

As they walked through the darkness, important details about the mission were discussed. Specifically, they determined that my code name would be "Rabbit."

Bushyager also questioned the MS-IVs on their plan of attack.

"Right now you guys have too much testosterone and not enough planning," Bushyager said.

The MS-IVs chose to set up a new patrol base. However, as a few scouts were venturing into the woods to survey the area, Henderson got a phone call from Pomper, head of the Hopkins cadre, cancelling the ambush.

Disappointed, the MS-IVs headed back to the barracks while Bushyager took me to see the MS-III patrol base.

A few flashlights with red filters hung from tree branches provided the only light. Most cadets and cadre members were already in their olive green sleeping bags, gathered together in small clusters. I was shivering, but everyone assured me that the sleeping bags were very warm.

Still, I was glad to head back to the barracks. Once there, I went to the Tactical Operation Control (TOC), where Cadet Major Stephen Dunay, an MS-IV, and Cadet Captain James Robbins told me about the plan for the next day.

Saturday Morning: Navigation Agitation

It was exactly 4:14 a.m. when a cadet knocked on my door. I had spent much of the night half awake since the heater persisted in making sounds like cymbals crashing all night long. At first I had wondered if cadets were communicating in Morse code from the rooms on either side of me.

Cadets started the day with what some described as "the joys of an MRE" (Meal, Ready-to-Eat). MREs come packaged in plastic and cardboard, with a bag that has a chemical reactant that cooks the MRE when water is added.

While they contain 3,500 calories, MREs are not appetizing.

It was common knowledge which meals were to be avoided at all costs, such as the egg and cheese omelet. On the other hand, to pass up crackers and peanut butter was "a felony."

As they finished eating, the cadets were given the coordinates for their land navigation exercise and split into teams.

The official start time of the activity was 0600, Army-speak for 6 a.m. They had until 9:30 a.m. Before 7 a.m., MS-III Cadet Kavanaugh had returned, sweaty but successful.

"45 minutes. That's record time," Robbins said.

Some cadets were still in the process of plotting their points on the map. I was curious as to what happened if a cadet didn't find the required three points.

"We don't want to find out," MS-I Tianna Grey said.

"I expect the juniors to be about 90 percent [successful]" Pomper said. "The freshmen, well, I expect them to find north."

After finding two points, MS-III Cadet Sergeant Jesse Cody found time to talk to me.

"It should be a long day," he said, "So far, so good. I've got no complaints."

The same was not true for Cadets Grey and Ball, who after about an hour talked to Pomper and discovered that their compass was not working right.

"Well, that explains why we haven't found any points," Grey said.

In the 20-degree weather the cadets' assignment was not enviable. Still, one pair managed to get a fire going, and Major Heather Levy and Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Sean Ashby, the battalion commander, constructed a lean-to they called their "super hooch."

STX [Squad Tactical Exercises] Lanes: Mission Possible

I started off with Squad Four, where MS-II Cadet Corporal Patrick Boyle was assigned as my liaison within the squad.

Squad 4's first STX Lane task was an area reconnaissance (recon.) They had to cross a wide-open field of tall, thick yellow grass without being detected and survey the area.

Communication between cadets was virtually nonexistent. Hand gestures expressed orders to stop, move on or drop to the ground and crawl. They did not encounter the enemy, a role performed by cadre members and MS-IVs.

"I like it better that way," Boyle said.

Later, I joined Cadet Sergeant First Class June Struder, who was in the process of setting up an ambush. Her squad was lying on the ground behind logs or trees for cover, rifles trained on the road nearby. Some even had leaves scattered on their backs to enhance their camouflage.

"Set your weapons on semi," Struder said, then explained that 'semi' meant that each time a cadet pulled the trigger they would fire one round.

Minutes later, a red SUV rolled down the road. At Struder's command, the squad opened fire. Moving so fast I almost was not aware of what was happening, the cadre members in the vehicle parked, threw open the doors and jumped out, returning fire. They took cover on the other side of the vehicle, but eventually were 'killed' by the squad.

With the enemy down, the cadets ran to check the bodies, confirming the kill by kicking the fallen soldier in the groin. Fortunately for the cadre, Struder had ordered her squad to just kick their boots instead.

Each enemy combatant then had to be checked for booby traps, specifically grenades that might be beneath their body.

One cadet watched as another straddled the enemy's body, then hooked their arms under the enemy's arms and rolled them over. That way the watching cadet can see if there is a grenade and shout to warn the rest of the squad to take cover. The dead body will shield the soldier rolling it over.

The first fallen enemy was clear. The second revealed a grenade. Everyone dove to the ground as he briefly came back to life to throw the practice grenade farther away.

Although the practice grenades used by the Blue Jay Battalion are not real, Pomper told me they were still powerful enough to blow off a finger if it was still in someone's hand when it exploded.

With no casualties and both enemy guards dead, Struder's STX Lane seemed successful. She reported on the weapons and maps found on the enemy to the MS-IV with her squad, Cadet Major Hyejin Kwon.

The next two STX Lanes were also ultimately successful. The squad knocked out a 'bunker,' a lean-to covered with a camouflage tarp and then moved into contact with the enemy, a task where they basically just try to determine where the enemy was and then engage. Ideally they maintain the element of surprise.

They even weathered a Rambo-like charge from an enemy combatant near the end of their last engagement.

The cadets also completed their night land navigation. This time MS-Is and -IIs were in groups of three, while the MS-IIIs once again worked alone.

"I think everything went well given that we're still learning," Dunay told me afterward. "As an MS-III you lead at a squad level. As an MS-IV, you're thrown into the battalion level. There's a lot we can improve on, but that'll just make our spring FTX that much better."

He placed special significance on the fact that there were no major injuries during the weekend.