CNMI MSU Brigade JCLC a success

The CNMI MSU Brigade held its annual JROTC Cadet Leadership at Saipan Southern High School beginning April 13. (Contributed Photo)

Last April 13, the CNMI MSU Brigade started its yearly JROTC Cadet Leadership at Saipan Southern High School and was hosted by Saipan Southern High School.

MSU stands for multiple school unit headquarters.

A total of 25 selected cadets from each battalion were present, including the instructors and some chaperones.

On their first day, the cadets of Rota High School and Tinian High School came to Saipan. The rest of the cadets on the scene first set up their tents and were briefed about what to do during their stay at the camping grounds. SSHS and THS were in charge of leadership and entertainment that day

Their second day consisted of physical training and learning survival skills. For their PT they had a Half Mile Esprit De Corps Run led by the Manta Ray Battalion in the morning. After PT, the cadets changed into their Army Combat Uniforms for round-robin stations.

The round robin consisted of Rope Bridge, Knot Tying, Leadership Reaction Course, First-Aid, Hasty Rappelling, and Land Navigation. Night entertainment was provided by the cadets of Rota High School and Kagman High School

On their third day, Marianas High School was in charge of leadership. The cadets loaded their stuff into buses to head down the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool for water activities training. They were then divided to two groups, the first group learned how to make their rucksacks into floatation devices, and the second group learned how to make floatation devices out of their ACU’s. After that they had one male cadet and one female from each battalion for a 50m swim race. The winner for the males is Cadet Kaito Yanai from KHS and the winner for the females is Cadet Katherine Illahi from MHS.

The cadets went back to the camping site for a few sports competitions. Taking home the first place trophy for volleyball is THS and taking home the first place trophy for basketball is KHS. That night MHS was in charge of entertainment.

On their last day, the cadets had breakfast, cleaned the camp grounds, and bid each other farewell. Tinian deployed back first followed by Rota.

According to Manta Ray Battalion Senior Army Instructor Command Sergeant Major Basa the JCLC has been going on for 25 years. “It has been around since the first establishment of JROTC in MHS.”

Next year’s host for JCLC will most likely be the MHS Dolphin Battalion. (Mackenzie Perez)