FORT KNOX, Ky. – Cadets’ voices rang out over each other as they tried to work as a team to conquer the field leadership reaction course. The point of the exercise is not to beat the obstacles, but rather to build Cadets’ leadership skills and ability to work as a team. 

Some Cadets, such as Harley Funderbunk, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona, and Hannah Fuchko, University of Georgia, both assigned to 1st Regiment, Advanced Camp, are natural-born leaders. They thrive in scenarios like the ones presented on FLRC and can problem solve while instructing their team all at once.

“We had different people doing different things and that’s why we ran into issues with people not carrying boards and people stepping on them,” Fuchko said during the after action review following an obstacle. “So, if you have an idea, verify it. It takes two more seconds to ask ‘Everybody cool with this’?”

During that obstacle, ‘the destroyed bridge’, Cadets had to use wooden boards of varying lengths and place them on posts to create a bridge. The Cadets then have to get themselves and all the equipment they used across. 

Funderbunk and Fuchko’s squad almost successfully completed the obstacle. Almost all supplies and all squad members, except one, made it across. With just a few minutes of the allotted 20 minutes left, a wooden plank fell and so did a Cadet. The squad did not give up though. They continued to try and move the planks around and get their battle buddy across the bridge. 

“I don’t care what we’re doing out here, whether it’s lanes, whatever we’re doing, I don’t care,” Funderbunk said. “We go until one of them (Cadre members) says stop.”

In the obstacle before that, called ‘elevation’, the Cadets almost gave up. Nearly past the obstacle, they dropped the barrel that needed to get across, forcing them to completely restart. They had to take apart everything they had put together and do it all again in three minutes. A few Cadets suggested they not bother even trying to redo the obstacle since they had such little time left. That idea was preposterous to Funderbunk.

“When that thing hit the ground and three people said ‘We’re done, we don’t have time to act,’ it’s unacceptable,” he said. “We go until the bell rings.”

Despite the moments of defeat the squad faced and times they almost gave up, Funderbunk felt the team was keeping their morale up. 

“I think we have enough morale that failing one or two obstacles in a row isn’t going to affect that,” he said.

Fuchko also thought that while they may not have defeated every obstacle, the squad was still performing well. 

“None of us have gotten mad at each other and I think that’s what’s really important,” she said. “All of us have stayed high-spirited and ready to move onto the next obstacles.”

After overcoming one of the obstacles, the team gathered and started to sing Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.” As they sang the lyrics, they laughed and began walking to the next obstacle. 

“Good job guys,” Fuchko said. “I think overall we did really well.”