Over the course of the day, potential warrant officers in the Indiana National Guard sharpened their leadership skills wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow.
About 20 enrollees in the Warrant Officer Candidate School at Camp Atterbury spent Aug. 8 loading up mulch and spreading it among the trails and trees of the Franklin urban forest. They made repairs to wooden cases for the forest’s Storywalk literacy display, and fixed benches throughout the natural area.
With the help of Franklin police officers and firefighters, they were able to spruce up a unique part of the community that many of the officer candidates live in.
“It’s a great legacy to be a part of. These projects are something that happen with every (officer candidates) class, and we can say that this is what we did to contribute,” said Evan Lachmayer, a warrant officer candidate.
The urban forest project was an integral part of the warrant officer candidate school program, the type of community improvement that each class is required to complete. The candidates had to plan the project, line up the supplies and then do the work. Their success depended on their abilities to work together and accomplish the needed tasks as a team.
In that way, it exemplified the months-long process they were all a part of on their journey to officership.
“All of us have different leadership skills and backgrounds that we come from, and different areas where we all shine. Learning different perspectives from one another has definitely been a huge contribution in that learning process,” said Nicole Kegebein, one of the warrant officer candidates in this year’s class.
The Indiana National Guard’s Warrant Officer Candidate School is held at the Regional Training Institute of the 138th Regiment, at Camp Atterbury. Potential candidates, who were previously non-commissioned officers, go through the six-month initial phase of the program learning about the transition from being a non-commissioned officer to being a warrant officer, including leadership and coordination between areas they would be overseeing.
A second phase, lasting two weeks and covering technical knowledge, is held to complete the program.
“It’s a leadership school, in order to train them and vet them to be officers in the Indiana National Guard and U.S. Army,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Helmsing, part of the cadre that trains at the school.
The program brings together candidates from a wide variety of areas and units, forcing them to work together and use their experiences as they learn officership.
“So far, the program has been very educational. It’s tested our leadership skills, how we react to certain stress,” said Chris Fenton, a warrant officer candidate. “It’s been really eye-opening.”
Part of the warrant officer candidate program is planning a community outreach project to plan and complete. Though trainers provide ideas and guidance, particularly as some candidates are not from the area around Camp Atterbury, the direction of the project is up to the class themselves.
It serves as a centerpiece of the program as a whole.
“We start discussing this project even in the orientation, and they have to start the defining process that early,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bo Haugestad.
For this year’s candidate class, the urban forest in Franklin was a location that had personal meaning. Haugestad, one of their commanders, had been stationed at Camp Atterbury during the floods of 2008, seeing the destruction to the area that led to the creation of the forest.
In addition, many of the candidates live in Franklin or around Johnson County, and are familiar with the park’s role in the community.
“It was a familiar place that many of us have gone to with our families. It made it an easy pick, just because of the familiarity with it and the linkage with our commander,” Lachmayer said.
After planning and organizing the project, the officer candidates struck out on Aug. 8 to complete the beautification work.
They started early in the morning and worked throughout the day to fix up areas of the forest’s walking paths and repairing storyboards along the trail.
Franklin police and firefighters also offered their assistance, and were honored by the officer candidates for their efforts during the day.
“It was an awesome feeling to be able to give back to the community. As we were out there, we had a lot of the local population drive by and either honk their horn or wave,” Kegebein said. “We had a mother with her young child wanting to talk to us. It’s an awesome thing to give back to the community and be supportive, and have that impact on an area we all work in locally.”
