NH Army National Guard
Trains Officers to be Leaders New Hampshire Army National Guard Cadets Cyrus Hull, Amelia Magay, and Tovah Stonner orient a map during land navigation training on September 11 at the Edward Cross Training Complex in Pembroke, NH. Photo: NH Army National Guard
N
ew Hampshire Army National Guard Sergeant First Class Jason Collins has a pretty good idea about the type of officers they need to lead soldiers. As one of the primary instructors who trains new officers each year, Collins says cadets receive top-notch skills, discipline and task-specific goals to gain a commission.
Collins trains an average of 25 to 30 cadets each year who are either part of the Reserve Officer Training Corp detachments linked to the Battalion based at the University of New Hampshire, Southern New Hampshire University, Plymouth State University or Norwich University in Vermont. Cadets are part of the Simultaneous Membership Program, which means they have the option of serving in the National Guard, the Reserves or active-duty Army after they complete the ROTC / Simultaneous Membership training program (SMP). Collins has served in the New Hampshire Army National Guard since 2008 and worked as an officer training instructor for two years. ROTC candidates receive some officer training in addition to their college life, and are awarded a commission as a second lieutenant, Collins says. OCS candidates enlist in the Army National Guard and ship off to basic training before attending the state’s officer training schools in Strafford or
22 | WWW.NHNEXT.COM
Pembroke. All told, it is an 18-month training program. “It sounds scary, but it’s 18 drill weekends,” Collins says. The drill weekends happen once during the month. Once the OCS candidates complete those drill weekends and all the training requirements, Collins says they are commissioned as officers in the New Hampshire Army National Guard. Each officer training facility offers different training, Collins says. “Pembroke has gigantic classrooms and pretty good technology for that type of training, and then Strafford has an in-house shooting range,” Collins says. He describes the shooting range as a simulator with a screen like an indoor golf driving range. Officer candidates fire pistols at targets and familiarize themselves with different weapons. ‘It’s pretty cool,” he says. The officer candidates will also do some outdoor training in mountainous terrain where they take land navigation courses in Colchester, Vermont, Collins adds. Collins sees men and women officer candidates. Not all of them will succeed, he says.
