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BAILEY, N.C. - Cadets enrolled in the Air Force Junior ROTC
program at Southern Nash High School participated in a field
training exercise at Camp Charles Boy Scout Camp here, Nov 22, 2013.
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Air Force JROTC cadets enrolled at Southern Nash High school
executes patrolling techniques during a field training exercise at
Camp Charles Boy Scout Camp in Bailey, N.C., Nov. 22, 2013. The
JROTC cadets received training from North Carolina National
Guardsmen Sgt. 1st Class John Setera, Mobilization Readiness
Noncommissioned Officer at Joint Force Headquarters on how to
maintain a security element, searching detainees, concepts for
traffic control points, and proper patrolling movements. Setera is
an infantryman with three wartime deployments, 24 years of service
and is also one of the cadre for the program. (U.S. Army National
Guard photo by Sgt. Leticia Samuels, North Carolina National Guard
Public Affairs)
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North Carolina National Guardsmen Sgt. 1st Class John
Setera, Mobilization Readiness noncommissioned officer at
Joint Force Headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., had an
opportunity most parents never get to experience by teaching
not only cadets of the JROTC program, but his youngest son,
Joseph, concepts and procedures used during the mobilization
process in the military.
“Actually I wanted them to
join the Air Force or the Coast Guard and be a little bit
safer than me,” said Setera. “I'd rather them be at 30,000
feet pushing a button instead of three feet squeezing a
trigger.”
However, Setera's
eldest son still only had one MOS in mind; 11 Bravo –
infantry.
“I don't know where he got that from,”
Setera smiled.
Setera is an infantryman with three
wartime deployments, 24 years of service, and also one of
the cadre in this program that taught hands on skills that
the military uses at traffic control points, patrolling,
searching detainees and how to perform squad-sized tactical
maneuvers.
In addition, Army Staff Sgt. Sofia
Phillips, Aide to the Chief of Joint Staff at the N.C.
Guard's Joint Force Headquarters, taught the ABCs of basic
first aid: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation, to the
cadets. Phillips and Setera crossed paths earlier in the
year when Setera was filling the position as an aide to the
command senior enlisted leader of the NCNG, Command Sgt Maj.
John Swart.
Setera wanted to arm the cadets with
basic first aid knowledge and felt Phillips would be a good
fit for the helping build the cadet's knowledge in first
aid.
Phillips' “first love” in the Army was being a
combat medic and she successfully taught the young men and
women about how the three critical elements were the major
points emphasized during her medic class.
The crash
course in combat lifesaving may someday prepare the cadets
to assist those injured in a car crash or other emergency
situations.
The JROTC program is headed by 25-year
veteran and retired Air Force Lt. Col. John Coulter, senior
aerospace science instructor, who wanted to incorporate
hands on training scenarios that would expose his students
to real life military situations that soldiers face today.
Coulter coordinated with Setera to develop the
mobilization exercise that allows cadets to experience
training procedures the Army uses in today's training.
Assisting Coulter is 30-year veteran and retired Chief
Master Sgt. Jay Scott Wedding, aerospace science instructor,
who has been with the program for ten years and counting.
“I like working with kids,” replied Wedding.
Five years before retiring, Wedding knew he would be
teaching kids and using his experiences in the Air Force to
add to the effectiveness of the program.
The main
goal of the program that Coulter and Wedding aimed to
accomplish was teaching cadets survival techniques and
familiarizing them with military operations while also
helping them to gain a more concrete understanding of what
to expect upon enlisting into any branch of the military.
“It's a challenge but has definitely made me mature
and has taught me how to work with people even if I don't
want to,” said future Cadet Group Commander, Joseph Setera,
son of John Setera.
Joseph Setera led the class in the
day's exercises and has already claimed the Army as his
branch of choice.
Joseph Setera also contributed a
lot of his success and skills to his father and older
brother; he admitted he would ask them for advice on
situations during his JROTC exercises.
Coulter and
Wedding plan to utilize the entire cadre that came to
support this event and hope to expand to bigger and better
things for years to come.
By U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Leticia Samuels
North
Carolina National Guard Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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