Cultural Understanding and Leadership Program in Romania
A fantastic opportunity ROTC provided me during college was the opportunity to participate in Cadet Summer training. Between my sophomore and junior years, this took the form of the Cultural Understanding and Leadership Program (CULP). CULP was a program that sent Cadets to allied nations around the world to gain perspective training with the military and immersing themselves in the countries culture. For my CULP experience, I had the opportunity to live and train at the Romanian Land Forces Academy in Sibiu, Romania. The essential teaching points for the program were stability operations and operational environment variables (PMESII-PT) through the lens of another country.
The first exciting part of the trip was getting to know the Romanian Land Forces Academy Cadets. Our team quickly realized we had a lot in common with them and began to develop friendships with many of the Cadets. At the same time, we had the opportunity to explore the culture and region we were in. Sibiu is nestled in the middle of the Transylvania region of Romania. Transylvania, most notoriously known as the setting for Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, was full of ancient castles and churches which we had the opportunity to explore. The history of the region was fascinating as it involved significant foreign influence which primarily took the form of Saxon invaders from the northwest. The blend of the dominant Romanian culture with some historical Germanic architecture and culture made the area very interesting to explore. You would find streets with a brand new Romanian Orthodox church standing right next to a 12-century German-Lutheran church that seemed abandoned. Through our Romanian counterparts, we also learned quite a bit about how this historical context played out in Romanian during the present day. The experience made me realize how much the study of history can help contextualize a current environment.
For our culminating experience with the Romanian Land Forces Academy, we participated in a 4-day FTX at the top of a nearby mountain. This training event was a survival school where we learned about which mushrooms were good and bad to eat, how to build shelter, setting traps, and starting a fire. After learning the skills with the Romanian Cadets, we were paired into teams and set to the task to survive the night. Luckily I was paired with a team that included two former warrant officers who had done this sort of thing before. They built an elaborate elevated shelter and fire that kept us warm and dry all night. It was a surreal experience working with these Cadets as a team. Through the process, we became good friends, and I was sad to have to leave when we made the ruck march down the mountain back to Sibiu.
My CULP experience showed me the power of building relationships. Because we were able to so strongly connect with the Romanian Cadets, we helped in a very small way to develop a stronger bond between our two nations. In the future, I hope I will have the opportunity to reconnect with the many friends I made through this experience. This includes both the Romanian Cadets and the fantastic team of US Cadets from around the nation that I met as we participated in the training program together.
