US Army-Master Resiliency Training

Cadet Kaylee Ocheltree is a third year (MS3) cadet in the University of Portland Army ROTC program. During this rotation CDT Ochletree is the Platoon Sergeant in charge of more than 20 lower class men cadets.

CDT Ocheltree conducts accountability at the beginning of Physical Readiness Training (PRT) on February 9th, 2022. While cadets are in the Army ROTC program, they must attend PRT three times a week–Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 0630 to 0730. 

CDT Ocheltree performs 5 leg tucks to warm up before taking instruction from the Master Resiliency Trainers (MRT). Two times a year the MRT team comes down from Joint Base Lewis McCord to teach cadets at the University of Portland about how to work as a team and become more resilient in challenging situations.  

CDT Ocheltee works with team member Cadet Bouwhis to stack as many bolts as possible before time is up. This task was meant to teach cadets about communicating with their partners and to work slow under pressure. The resiliency program being used to train cadets is relatively new and incorporates  group activities and classroom instruction. 

Cadets were first instructed to perform a 5 minute high intensity workout before trying to complete this task given to them. As one cadet holds a clipboard, the other places bolts on top of each other with a wooded stick. Most cadets found this challenging but also fun.

The Cadets second task from the MRT team was to get all 20 people across an imaginary river while only stepping on small pieces of cardboard. Cadets were given only 60 seconds to make a plan then were not allowed to speak again. If caught communicating with each other they would be given a physical activity as form of punishment. After completion of each event, cadets discussed what they learned and how they could perform the task better in the future.