FORT KNOX, Ky. — Gun fire rang out as Cadets ran through the woods to aid their team during their second mission of the ‘Wolverine’ field training exercise on Fort Knox, Ky., June 25, 2025.

The FTX is designed to simulate a combat environment as Cadets take on increasingly complex training scenarios. During a total of 12 days in the field, Cadets go through three phases—Wolverine, Panther and Grizzly. Each one prepared them for their evaluation on the last day of training.

2nd Lt. Caden Beamis is one of the Cadre that guided and observed Cadets assigned to 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Regiment, Advanced Camp, as they went through three different operations during the Wolverine phase.

“Today we are just training on tactics and preparing them for further evaluation,” Beamis said. “This is their development phase. We are trying to make sure they have good leadership qualities.”

Cadet Colin Sebastianelli, Valley Forge Military College, joined ROTC for the opportunity to pursue a career in aviation, but for now he was a platoon leader during the ‘Wolverine’ operations.

His duties required him to receive the mission, create a plan and then communicate it with squad leaders to send it down the chain of command. Sebastianelli expressed his willingness to improve and correct his mistakes.

After each mission they complete a final after-action review to verbalize the ‘sustains’ and ‘improves’ as a team. For this phase they are guided by Cadre in the discussion to ensure they’re learning as much as possible.

“We would ask ourselves, ‘How can we improve upon this and how can we avoid making those mistakes?’,” Sebastianelli said.

Their first mission of the day was an ambush scenario, which was not swiftly executed.

Sebastianelli said he missed several key opportunities in his ability to control his platoon, which ultimately created more adversity.

The entire platoon took time for their FAAR to address the mistakes that occurred. The team established things they wanted to improve through reflection.

“I had really good leadership within those assigned as squad leaders,” Sebastianelli said. “They were able to push out information and take care of certain things I missed.”

During their second mission, movement to contact, they were able to identify the enemy 50 meters away. The 3rd platoon was able to use the environment around them to set up at a higher vantage point and put the target at a disadvantage.

“This group did a little better with their second mission regarding awareness,” Beamis said. “They’re slowly trying to apply what they’ve learned, but it’s tough.”

One of the most important things as a leader is to understand each teammate’s strengths and weaknesses. Sebastianelli realized this fault was contributing to the lack of unit cohesiveness.

“We haven’t been working like this in the field as a team,” he said. “We haven’t really hit that battle rhythm yet.”

Although it takes time to create that productive workflow in these scenarios, they are not always given that advantage in the field. According to Beamis, it is all about being a good team player.

“Be a good person, have good morals, put in the effort, don’t slack out,” he said. “If your buddy is struggling, help them out.”

These Cadets have gone through various training since their arrival to prepare them for their FTX. This is their time to take everything they have learned and put it into a simulated mission through leadership skills. As 2nd Regiment moves on to the ‘Panther’ phase, they continue to analyze their performance, improve their mistakes and prepare for evaluation.