By Cadet Alexander Reeder, UW-Stevens Point Pointer Battalion
I have spent an amazing time in the Balkan country of Montenegro. This beautiful country, known for its rolling black mountains and breathtaking valleys–both of which I have traveled through–has been my home these past days and weeks. I have made inseparable friendships with both fellow cadets as well as the Montenegrin special forces soldiers we (the team of cadets I was with) trained with while in the country. Besides receiving instruction in marksmanship, knife throwing and white-water rafting, we also learned the language, traded unit patches and spent every day in the company of some amazing and talented individuals training and learning.
Our mission, through the U.S. Army Cadet Command CULP (Cultural Understanding and Language Program), was to develop our foreign brothers’ concept of the English language through day to day military to military interactions. In short, this means that they learned our language while teaching us their tactics. While the mission always comes first, the trip meant so much more than that to my fellow cadets and myself. The leadership experience and international relations this trip has given us will be immensely influential during our time remaining in ROTC and, more importantly, in our careers as U.S. Army officers. I can think of nothing better than to have spent a month in such a country as this and with people as these.
Cadet Reeder is in Montenegro from June 14–July 9, 2013.