grateful for her wonderful care.

Cadet Hamadeh is a senior

nursing student as well, sched-

uled to graduate in May 2012.

She completed her NSTP ex-

perience at Womack Army

Medical Center (WAMC) at

Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North

Carolina; home of the Airborne

and Special Operations Forces. Cadet Hamadeh completed 120

hours of clinical with a primary

focus in mother baby nursing.

During her time at Fort Bragg,

she was able to experience and

practice many hands on skills

learned in her past three years

of college. By the end of her

internship, she had the ability to

assess patients, administer medi-

cations, provide basic care for

new mothers and babies, edu-

cate new parents, start intrave-

nous therapy, and practice

charting techniques with the

guidance of a licensed nurse.

Not only did Cadet Hamadeh

learn many important clinical

skills she will use as an Army

Nurse, but she established

bonds with other nursing cadets

and nurses that will follow her

throughout her military career.

By Cadets Randa Hamadeh &

Jennifer Stachura (MS IVs)

The Nursing Summer Training

Program (NSTP) is a three to

four week internship provided

to Army cadets majoring in

nursing. Nursing cadets are

given this opportunity after fulfilling several nursing class

requirements. During the sum-

mer, nursing cadets are assigned

to one of many military hospi-

tals across the country; several

hospitals out of the country are

included as well. Nursing cadets

can request their top five wishes

and they will usually receive

one. This is an all expenses paid

trip to include housing, food,

and compensation for hours

completed. Nursing cadets are

given opportunities to shadow a

nurse on several floors in the

hospital including the emergency

department, labor and delivery,

operating room, gastrointestinal

studies, intensive care unit, and

the mother baby floor. This past

summer, Cadet Stachura and

Cadet Hamadeh participated in

NSTP. Cadet Stachura is a sen-

ior nursing student who is

graduating in December 2011.

She was given the opportunity

to train as a student nurse at

Dwight D. Eisenhower Army

Medical Center (DDEAMC) at

Ft. Gordon in Augusta, GA.

Cadet Stachura felt very wel-

comed, and was greeted with

open arms and smiles at

DDEAMC. The staff provided

numerous opportunities in the emergency department that

Cadet Stachura has not received

in her clinical training here at

NIU. The connection she made

with her patients and staff will

follow her for the rest of her

military career; as will the thank

you letters Cadet Stachura re-

ceived from several patients

Huskie Experiences with the Nurse Summer Training Program

Northern Illinois University ROTC

HUSKIE BATTALION

Fall 2011

THE NORTHERN FRONT

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

The Nurse Sum-

mer Training Pro-

gram (NSTP)

1

My First Field

Training Exercise

2

Cadet Recognition 2

Huskie Air Rifle

Team

3

Spartan Race 3

Upcoming Events 4

Huskie Cadet in

Africa

4

Cadre Contact 5

Alumni Updates 5

NOT SO QUIET ON

Spring 2011 Graduates:

- 2LT Adam Todd, US Army

Engineer Corps

- 2LT Mark Zastany, US

Army Engineer Corps

- 2LT Benjamin Dummer, US

Army Chemical Corps

- 2LT Mikel Hottendorf, US

Army Quartermaster

Corps

- 2LT Brian Lesko, US Army

Nurse Corps

- 2LT Marks Jekabsons,

ILARNG Infantry

- 2LT Yesenia Juarez,

ILARNG Medical Service

Corps

By Cadet Alexander Brown

(MS I)

My first FTX experience

was at Fort McCoy and was

awesome; definitely worth me

taking off work to go. Since I

have never done anything like

this before I was really not sure

what to expect at all but I

quickly learned what it was

like. We received a lot of good

training on different things

while at the FTX, and upon our

redeployment. There were

some lessons that were

learned indirectly and were

very valuable throughout the

whole experience. There were

some things that I thought

could have been executed dif-

ferently but now that I look

back, I do not mind those tiny

inconveniences. For me the most valuable

thing I did over the weekend

was getting to fire the M4. I

was really nervous about firing

it because I have never shot

any kind of firearm before and I

was really nervous. Once I

fired a couple of rounds on the

zeroing range I felt very com-

fortable with the weapon. I still

need to work on trigger con-

trol but overall I feel that I did

well given it was my first time.

Something else that was valu-

able education at the FTX was

learning how to route plan

when it came to finding land

navigation points. I had a part-

ner who was an MS II for the

day land navigation which came

in handy because I was going to just jump around points but he

taught me to make a plan. He

stressed that you need to rec-

ognize land features and make

sure that you count your paces

accurately. I found that out the

hard way; one time we missed

a land feature and it caused us

to walk about an additional

mile to correct the mistake.

My second lesson learned

while at FTX was to invest in

an electric shaver prior to the

next exercise. I tried using

shaving cream the first morning

and that turned into a big pain

because it got everywhere.

Then I needed to try to get off

the shaving cream but I didn’t

have the water to do so and

then I had to dig out a towel

from my bag and get it off. A third lesson learned was that

your sleeping bag can always

compress more than you think.

Leadership Development

and Assessment Course

Katherine Brenneman

Andrew Crum

Lawrence Danhoff

Adam Denna

Randa Hamadeh

Terry Houston

Neal Swanson

Cooper Westvig Karl Woodham

Leader’s Training Course

Derek Ma

Matthew Taylor

My First Field Training Exercise (FTX)

Cadet Recognition

Cadet Bradley Wilson

descending the rappel wall

on the Huskie Football

Stadium

Page 2 THE NORTHERN FRONT

Airborne

Eric Hall

Rutger Glocker

Taylor Hartsough

Christian Maranan

Nurse Summer Training

Program (NSTP)

Jennifer Statchura

Randa Hamadeh

Cadet Troop Leading

Training (CTLT)

Cooper Westvig

Dean’s List (Continued)

Matthew Taylor

Bradley Wilson

Cadet Honors (GPA 3.2-3.5)

Ian Aguiling

Terry Houston

Ed Tolle

Cooper Westvig

Cadet Scholar (GPA 2.9-3.2)

Andrew Crum

Katherine Brenneman

Konrad Kalita

Thomas Kneifel

Christian Maranan

Rafael Salgado

Karl Woodham

Dean’s List (GPA 3.5 and up)

Lauren Armendariz-Bast

Tyler Clarke

David Cutsinger

Konrad Dalecki

Lawrence Danhoff

Price Davis

Rutger Glocker

Randa Hamadeh

Andrew Hansen Taylor Hartsough

Derek Ma

Alexander Noll

Gim Reo

Michael Rossi

Michael Smith

Jennifer Stachura

It took two attempts the first

morning to get my sleeping bag

into my ruck but the next

morning I got it on the first try.

The fourth thing that I learned

was to bring a head lamp that

has both red and white lights.

That would have been so handy

during the night land navigation

course and just getting things

packed up in the morning be-

cause it was so dark out in

both instances. There were

other lessons that were

learned just from the experi-

ence, but I’ll just plan for those

for the Spring FTX. On Sunday afternoon, we

returned to NIU for recovery

ops. I felt that the weapons

cleaning process was very good

experience but I thought that

we should have had a mini lab

about weapons cleaning to help

in familiarity. With the help of

some MS IIIs and IVs, I still did

fine cleaning and correctly

reassembling my weapon.

Overall, I really enjoyed the

FTX experience and that in-

cludes being ambushed at night

during the land nav. I am defi-

nitely looking forward to our

next FTX in the spring semes-

ter!

The Huskie Air Rifle Team Is On-Target

Page 3

By Cadet Michael Solimine

(MS II)

ROTC cadets have a

chance to join the Northern

Illinois University Rifle Team

and develop their shooting

abilities. The abilities that

cadets learn will transfer over

to becoming successful

marksmen in the Army and

on the battlefield. The funda-

mental practices that we

teach our cadets are breath-

ing patterns, what to look for

while. aiming the weapon and

trigger squeeze. These three

basic practices are what make

a great marksman. Once they

become more complete

marksmen themselves, cadets

will have the opportunity to

lead and teach others to be

successful marksmen as well.

This year we have sixteen

cadets that participate on the

rifle team. Weapons that we

use in practice and competi-

tions are .22 caliber rifles and

air rifles. The range safeties at

the Sycamore Sportsmen's

Club provide cadets the op-

portunity to use many other

types of weapons such as:

shotguns, AR-15 (M16), 9mm

and a M1 Garand from WW2.

Each cadet valued the

experience gained by using

the other types of weapons.

Our goal this year is to take

as many cadets down to

Washington University in St.

Louis and win the competition

against other RO.T.C. pro-

grams. Last year we placed

forth out of thirty schools.

Two of our cadets placed in

the top 10 out of 140 other

cadets. We want to continue

this trend of success and be-

come the best in our region.

Cadets that compete in the

competition will be awarded a

1000 dollar scholarship from

the National Rifle Association

(NRA), to apply to their col-

lege expenses. Another task

the rifle team was awarded

this year is to participate in

the Veterans' Day Ceremony

on November 5,2011. Cadets

on the rifle team will form a

firing squad and executing a

21 gun salute for the veterans.

Afterwards each cadet has the

honor to speak to Americas'

past soldiers and learn from

their experiences, as well as

shoot an assortment of differ-

ent weapons. This should be

an exciting day for our cadets

at NIU. Cadets on the rifle

team are gaining valuable ex-

periences. Using the three

basic practices we teach

them, cadets will become

great marksmen. This will

allow them to lead and teach

their abilities to their subordi-

nates in the future and bring

home first place in our com-

petitions to NIU.

This October, a team of 11 cadets and cadre travelled to Marseilles, IL to

participate in the Midwest Spartan Race. The Spartan Race is a grueling,

extreme obstacle course race requiring strength, stamina, and grit. The ob-

stacles included climbing ropes, dragging cement blocks, carrying buckets of

gravel, and muddy wall climbs, all over muddy, hilly terrain. It was a true test

of guts and teamwork as the Huskie Battalion team worked together to get

the entire team through – finishing the 4 mile course in about 1.5 hours.

Check out www.spartanrace.com for more info on the race.

Huskie Battalion Proves to be Spartan Tough

Huskie Battalion

“Spartans”

- Cadet Randa Hamadeh (MSIV)

- Cadet Rutger Glocker (MSIII)

- Cadet Taylor Hartsough (MSIII)

- Cadet Wesley Andrewsk (MSII)

- Cadet Price Davis (MSII)

- Cadet Andrew Hansen (MSII)

- Cadet Jeffrey Lobue (MSII)

- Cadet Alex Noll (MSII)

- Cadet Cameron Shaffer (MSII)

- MSG Knight (Cadre)

- LTC Dosier (Cadre)

Upcoming Events

Page 4 THE NORTHERN FRONT

By Cadet Edward Tolle (MS III)

During summer 2011, I

participated in a study abroad

program. The program was

titled Project GO. The GO

stands for Global Officer. The

main point of these programs

is to immerse Cadets in the

culture of another country.

The Program I chose had a

focus on learning Kiswahili.

The program was 10 weeks

split into two phases. The first

phase was four weeks long. It

took place at James Madison

University (JMU) in Harrison-

burg, Virginia. There were 14

cadets in the program with me.

They came from a variety of

schools and each branch of the

United States military was

represented. Four cadets came

from Army ROTC programs,

three came from Navy ROTC,

and seven came from Air Force

ROTC. While at JMU, we took

a course in Kiswahili, the lan-

guage spoken in Kenya. The

course was very intensive. We

spent five hours a day in a

computer lab learning Kiswahili

with a teacher who was native

to Kenya. After class, we took

a break and were able to nap,

workout, or relax as we saw

fit. After this brief down pe-

riod, we spent the majority of

our time at JMU studying and

trying to learn Kiswahili. The

second phase was six weeks in

Kenya.

At the conclusion of the

first phase we boarded a plane

and flew to Kenya. While in

Kenya, we had more lessons in

Kiswahili from another teacher

who was also a native Kenyan.

While in Kenya we traveled

around the country and learned

about the different cultures of

the Kenyan people, and the

political ecology of the country.

We learned the history of the

country, learned about the

different tribes in Kenya, and

even visited a large slum, called

Kibera during our time there

to see how non-governmental

organizations are making a

difference in impoverished

areas of the world. This was an

amazing experience, and I

highly recommend that if any-

one has the opportunity to

study abroad, they take advan-

tage of it. Whether the trip is

in a ROTC, or academic capac-

ity I strongly think that studying

abroad is a necessary part of

the college experience.

Cadet Tolle Travels to Africa

Huskie Labs

- Oct 20th Squad Tactics II; Squad Move

ment to Contact, React to Con

tact, React to Ambush

- Oct 27th Squad Tactics III; Squad

Deliberate Attack

- Nov 3rd Squad Tactics IV; Squad

Ambush, React to Indirect Fire

- Nov 10th First Aid

- Nov 17th Combat Water Survival Test

- Nov 24th No Lab - Thanksgiving Day

- Dec 1st Awards Ceremony & Cadet

Change of Command Ceremony

Illinois State ROTC

Ranger Challenge - October 28th - 30th; at Marseilles

Training Area; Spectators Welcome

on Sunday, 30 Oct!

German Armed Forces Profi-

ciency Badge Qualification - Nov 4th - 5th; at Western Illinois

University

National Conference on Ethics in

America Conference at the United

States Military Academy at West

Point - NIU Army ROTC will be sending Cadet Tay-

lor Hartsough to participate in the NCEA con-

ference from Oct 16th - 20th.

Winter Commissioning

Ceremony - Cadet Jennifer Stachura and Cadet Ian Aguil-

ing will be graduating and commissioning this

coming December.

- Dec 11th; at 1100 in the Holmes Student

Center Skyroom.

COL (Ret) Larry Wexler (Class of ’78 (Infantry) – NIU Commissionee #94)

COL Wexler retired after 31 years of service in October 2009. Today he manages the Veterans Health

Administration Conference Center in Arlington, Virginia.

COL Brian Alvin (Class of ’84 (Chemical) – NIU Commissionee #183)

COL Alvin is currently a mobilized reservist serving as the Garrison Commander at Kandahar Airfield,

Afghanistan.

COL Ricky Tillotson (Class of ’87 (Infantry) – NIU Commissionee #274)

COL Tillotson is currently serving as a garrison commander in Belgium. The command is USAG Benelux and services U.S. personnel serving in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, England, and West-

ern Germany.

LTC James Dorn (Class of ’88 (Educational Delay) – NIU Commissionee #284)

LTC Dorn went on to complete a law degree and is currently serving as the Staff Judge Advocate at White

Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Prior to his current assignment, he was Chief Counsel for the Joint

Contracting Command responsible for contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CPT Bonnie Owens (Class of ’04 (Ordinance) – NIU Commissionee #467)

An Army Reservist, CPT Owens is currently the Company Commander for a Drill Sergeant unit in Suffolk,

VA.

Catching Up With Huskie Battalion Alumni

Northern Illinois University Department of Military Science

(ROTC) 1050 Lucinda Ave Dekalb, IL 60115

Phone: 815-752-7682

Fax: 815-753-0575

E-mail: NIU_ROTC@niu.edu

Northern Illinois

University ROTC

HUSKIE BATTALION

Visit us online at:

www.niu.edu/rotc

Or join our Facebook Group

Northern Illinois University

(NIU) ROTC Huskie Battalion

Professor of Military Science/MS IV Instructor LTC David Dosier Aviation

Senior Military Instructor/MS I Instructor MSG Antonitus Knight Engineer Corps

Executive Officer/MS II Instructor CPT Drew Lanier Adjutant Generals Corps

Training NCO/MS III Instructor SFC Frederick Harris Infantry

Training Officer CPT DeMarco Williams Logistics Corps

Enrollment & Scholarship Officer CPT Maureen Minder Transportation Corps

Supply Technician Mr. John Dickinson

Human Resources Assistant Ms. Kim Gage

Contact The Huskie Cadre

Message from the PMS

It is quite an honor to serve as the Professor of Military Science here at NIU. I look forward

to continuing the hard work and success that my predecessors achieved. Thanks for all the

great updates from alumni. You carry the NIU ROTC banner high and make us all proud with

your numerous accomplishments. I'll be sending out bi-monthly updates to interested parents

on the activities of the cadet battalion - along with some invitations to attend certain

events. In the spring, we plan to open up the Military Ball to as many alumni and parents as we

can. We hope many of you can join us as we wrap up the year with that event and celebrate

the cadets' achievements. Mark your calendars now for April 28th, 2012.