A Summer You Won't Forget
Leader Development and Assessment Course. It's a five-week summer course to evaluate and train all Army ROTC Cadets. This course normally takes place between your junior and senior years of college, and is conducted at Fort Lewis, Washington.
ROTC Leader Development and Assessment Course is the most important training event for an Army ROTC cadet. The 31-day camp incorporates a wide range of subjects designed to develop and evaluate leadership ability. The challenges are rigorous and demanding, both mentally and physically. Leader Development and Assessment Course tests intelligence, common sense, ingenuity and stamina. These challenges provide a new perspective on an individual's ability to perform exacting tasks and to make difficult decisions in demanding situations.
The camp places each cadet and officer candidate in a variety of leadership positions, many of which simulate stressful combat situations. In each position, cadets are evaluated by platoon tactical and counseling (TAC) officers and noncommissioned officers. In addition to proving their leadership ability, cadets and officer candidates must meet established standards in physical fitness, weapons training, communication, combat patrols and demonstrate their proficiency in many other military skills. Cadets and officer candidates must excel at camp to be considered competitive for a commission as an Army officer. Over 5000 Army ROTC cadets from throughout the nation will attend the ROTC Leader Development and Assessment Course. The camp will consist of 12 ROTC and 2 OCS training cycles with the first cycle beginning in June and the last cycle graduating in August. Since 1993, the Fort Lewis ROTC Leader Development and Assessment Course has conducted Army National Guard Officer Candidate School Phase III training concurrently with Advanced Camp training. The ROTC committee cadre will provide leadership position evaluations of the candidates, using the same criteria as for ROTC cadet regiments.
One special aspect of Leader Development and Assessment Course is the Regimental Affiliation Program. Each cadet regiment is affiliated with an established and honored Army Regiment. The cadet battalions adopt the honors, lineage and heraldry of their respective active regiments. The purpose of the program is to infuse each cadet with regimental esprit de corps and pride.