Moldova CULP: A Humbling Experience

Cadet Schultz's CULP Experience

Each summer, Cadet Command selects hundreds of cadets to participate in the Cultural Language Proficiency Program (CULP). For up to three weeks, cadets travel the world and are assigned to different countries, exposing them to a new cultural perspective, how other militaries operate, and gaining a sense of how others view the United States. 

U.S. Army ROTC CULP Logo

This summer, the Golden Eagle Battalion was fortunate enough to send four of our own cadets on enlightening trips across the globe. Sophomore cadet Ellen Schultz recently returned from the European country of Moldova and wanted to share how her experiences broadened her horizon:

"This summer, I was lucky enough to participate in Moldova CULP. My team arrived in Ft. Knox on June 18^th. After several agonizing days of processing and travel, we landed in the most beautiful country I have ever seen--and the most impoverished in Europe. For the first several days, we were shocked repeatedly by all manner of tiny cultural and lifestyle differences that left us constantly spinning. Around every corner there were people to meet, a new faux pas to learn, and everyday things to struggle with. It was a long time before I was able to settle into my surroundings and begin to take everything in. It wasn’t until the second or third week that many of us realized how truly lucky we were to have been selected for this trip.

Initial Formation after arrival to Moldova

Other CULP groups had service missions like we did, but the majority of them lived in hotels or were assigned to wealthier nations. They were not given the perspective that we had from the barracks of the Moldovan Military Academy.

Cadet Schultz's CULP group

This really sank in for me during a demonstration by the students of the Moldovan Airborne School. We were bussed an hour out of the capital city to a military airbase that looked like a rundown civilian airport. The hangars were small and seemed to be dug out of hills and many of their vehicles were, by our rather high standards, outdated. The weeds growing up between the cracks in the concrete were being hewn down by men with scythes and the pilot and instructors rode around the airfield on bicycles. The small plane that flew six jumpers to their designated altitudes looked like a 1950’s An-2 and was certainly older than anyone present. The jumpers trusted their lives to the mechanics on the airfield and gave the most impressive demonstration of precision parachuting I have ever seen.

Despite suffocating clouds and ceaseless wind, five out of six parachutists landed on their feet within 50 meters of our gaggle of onlookers. For the rest of our three and a half weeks in country, we observed countless examples of how much the Moldovan people were capable of with the resources they had and the realization shocked us out of our pride and into admiration for their strength and camaraderie."


Below are more photo's from Schultz's trip:

Stay tuned for more stories from our remaining three CULP cadets. Two will be returning tomorrow!



Golden Eagles Don't Quit!

Alumni Cadets

Calling all TN Tech Army ROTC Alumni:

We want to hear your story!

This summer we are excited to reach out to past cadets of the program who would like to share their memories of being a part of the Golden Eagle Battalion.

Who was the PMS at the time? Were you a member of the Rebel Rifles? Where was the hangout spot on campus? Feel free to share anything that comes to mind because we'd love to hear it and share it with other alumni and current cadets of the program.

To share your stories, we ask that you either email them to us at tennesseetechrotc@gmail.com or send them in a message to our TTU Golden Eagle Battalion Facebook Page. If possible, we would also like you to send in a photo of yourself while you were in college or a current photo for us to display with your story.

Each story will be featured as a new blog post and shared to our Facebook page for everyone to see.


Who will be our first featured alumni? Hopefully it's you!


Golden Eagles Don't Quit!



Upcoming Changes for the Battalion

Hello alumni, parents, and cadets!


Welcome to our newly established TN Tech Army ROTC blog page! We are excited to expand our social media capabilities and are even more excited to announce upcoming changes that will be implemented into our program starting this summer.

Our office is tentatively scheduled to move into the current University Police Station in early August,  located on the main quad of campus.



Current University Police Station

 

This building was selected by our university President, Dr. Philip Oldham, for its centralized location and high volume of student activity.

Current rappel tower to be replaced

The program will also receive two dedicated classrooms within the College of Nursing, a shared classroom within the College of Engineering, and a new 43 ft. rappel tower located by the baseball field that cadets will have the opportunity to utilize during our labs.

We would like to extend to you an invitation to our ribbon cutting ceremony after the completion of our move in August.  More details about the ceremony are to follow and will be posted online within the next few weeks.

We encourage you to help us spread the word about Tennessee Tech Army ROTC by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TTUArmyROTC and by following us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TennTechROTC.

Golden Eagles Don’t Quit!