There was a Black Hawk down on Flavet Field on Thursday afternoon.
The UF Army ROTC had a demonstration for new cadets with various assault weapons, Humvees and a helicopter full of medevac soldiers.
The group of about 115 students whipped out phones and took pictures before the Black Hawk crew left to help victims of Hurricane Isaac.
But there were still plenty of toys to gawk at, and 23-year-old criminal justice senior Chris Van Aken was eager to show them off.
“This is a fully automatic, belt-fed, 40 mm grenade launcher,” Van Aken said, grinning and pointing to a thigh-high military machine on a tripod. “It’s a devastating weapon.”
Another table displayed about 10 automatic weapons, including a gun with a special attachment that allows it to shoot both bullets and grenades.
New cadets took their contracting oath, in which they swear to honor their contracts with the military and to serve their country.
“This is the beginning of their military career,” said Heather Seidl, a 26-year-old health care management senior.
The demonstration also showcased the ROTC’s three clubs: the Gator Guard Drill Team, the Raiders and Ranger Challenge.
Although each club is physically demanding, the three groups are unrelated in their goals.
The Raiders prepares cadets for tactical missions, and the Gator Guard practices drill routines to use in ceremonies.
The Ranger Challenge is the Army ROTC’s varsity sport, though it’s far different from anything with a scoreboard.
It features a series of events such as orienteering, where teams use land navigation skills to find 40 checkpoints over a 4-square-mile course. Another task is to build a bridge using a rope to cross a 40-foot water obstacle.
While the clubs on display are rigorous, the weekly lab ROTC students take as a part of their academic schedule can be just as intense.
Patrick Murphy, a 22-year-old English and criminology senior, said one day he and about 18 ROTC classmates were running a patrol on an area in the woods for training.
They began to clean up the practice site when one of the members found a backpack.
Their instructor had planted it there.
“He told us there was an invisible IED [improvised explosive device] in there, and eight of us died,” Murphy said. “The other 10 of us had to carry them all the way back to the assembly area.”
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org
Sean Lynch, an applied physiology and kinesiology sophomore, gives instruction during a UF Army ROTC event on Flavet Field on Thursday.
