The assault on the enemy bunker began as planned. A half-dozen soldiers, fanned out in a wedge formation, crept quietly through the foggy, frosty woods on a recon mission. Every few feet they paused, alert to possible threats, before squad leader Stephanie Marble '12 motioned them forward again.

The scenario had been meticulously laid out, relayed and rehearsed. But then came the unforeseen.

A radio call reported nearby enemy artillery. A barrage of explosions followed. In the midst of the commotion, three masked and armed insurgents approached with guns drawn and started firing.

Marble's task: adjust her strategy, instruct the squad members and execute a new plan -- all while avoiding (simulated) enemy fire.

And to make things more nerve-wracking, an officer followed her every move, writing meticulously on a blue grading card.

The exercise on Cornell's Mount Pleasant training grounds Nov. 6 was part of the Army ROTC's biannual Field Training Exercise (FTX) -- an intensive three-day retreat that tests the leadership mettle of juniors while introducing freshmen and sophomores to Army rigor.

As the darkness and fog lifted, sleet, rain and wind added to the discomfort. Many of the 77 participating cadets had had little sleep since moving into the National Guard Armory on Hanshaw Road two days earlier.

But if anyone had complaints, they kept them quiet. "This is what we like to do," said Andrew Alston '11. "We live for this stuff."

As a senior, Alston helped plan and oversee the weekend's activities. "This is the culmination of their classes," he said of the juniors. "This is where they have to put it all together."

The entire Excelsior Battalion, which includes cadets from Cornell, Elmira College, Binghamton University, SUNY Cortland, Ithaca College and Wells College, participates. (The Air Force, Navy and Marine ROTC units each has corresponding exercises according to their training regimens.)

The exercises prepare juniors for the Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC), a 28-day summer course at Fort Lewis, Wash., that all cadets must complete before being commissioned. Their performance at LDAC helps determine their first posting after graduation.

Time crunch

The weekend starts Thursday with a move into the Armory, where cadets sleep side by side on bedrolls in the gym. Up at 4:30 a.m., they're in the field by 6:30 a.m. and don't return until dinnertime. Hot chow, briefings, drills, physical training and preparations for the next day fill the time until lights out at 10 p.m.

Friday morning begins with daytime land navigation -- a GPS-free test of cadets' ability to find set points in the woods using only map, compass and protractor. ("GPS batteries fail," noted Elmira College senior and 14-year Marines veteran Mark Smith.) Nighttime land navigation follows on Friday night.

(This year's night exercise was canceled for weather-related safety concerns.)

But the real fun starts Friday afternoon. Divided into squads of 10-12, the cadets head out for the Field Leaders' Reaction Course (FLRC), a challenge course with downed pilots to be rescued, gorges to be crossed, top-secret devices to be retrieved and more.

The course is similar to other teamwork-oriented challenge courses -- but while teamwork is vital in the FLRC, the focus is on leadership.

And completing the mission is not necessarily the main goal. "We want to see how [the juniors] step back as leaders," said Alston. "We want to see their planning process, how they use the people and supplies they have" -- and how they manage the tight 45-minute time limit.

For Justin Rider '12, for example, the downed pilot scenario was a lesson in efficiency and delegating. Directing his squad to tie rope harnesses for a gorge crossing, he set to work securing the pilot (actually a dummy on a stretcher) for the crossing.

But in a review later, battalion commander Lt. Col. Steven Alexander suggested that a more efficient strategy might have been to delegate that task and instead oversee the bigger picture.

"Sometimes you have to assign a task and let them figure out their own way of doing it," Alexander said.

Think fast

Friday's FLRC is far from simple, but it is comfortingly predictable.

The predictability ends Saturday. In that spirit, the weather ignores forecasts and alternates between sunshine and flurries; while the juniors take on the Squad-Level Situational Training Exercise (SSTX) -- missions that are longer, more complex and spread out, and variable.

"SSTX is testing how they think on their feet," said Maj. Don Johnson. So a mission that may begin as an ambush or a bunker assault can quickly turn into an encounter with media or villagers on the battlefield, or a counterattack on insurgents.

The cadets learn strategies for basic maneuvers in the classroom, but they haven't yet had to keep track of 12 squad members -- some well out of view and earshot -- while remembering every procedure and reacting to change.

"The hardest part was just being inexperienced. Sometimes I just didn't know what to do," said Elmira College junior Shannon Roemer later. "But everyone was helping out. I had great support."

Sunday takes the idea a step further with patrolling, which involves equally unpredictable scenarios with additional people, positions and elements. Patrol leaders lead two squads; missions may include entering a village and finding and detaining a high-value target (an insurgent leader, for example) or opening a dialogue with a village elder.

To add to the realism, organizers build a mock village, complete with makeshift buildings, Spanish-speaking residents and Islamic culture. Cadets are briefed on key phrases and cultural differences.

Being sensitive to culture is key. "We work together in our operations abroad," said Smith. "We're in their home. You have to build relationships."

Wrapping up

On Sunday afternoon, cadets packed up their things and went back to being students. They'll have a second FTX in the spring.

The weekend was stressful and intense, said Roemer; but it was also gratifying.

"I gained a lot of new domain knowledge, and I learned what's expected of me as a cadet, what's expected of me as a future leader," she said.

The bonding and camaraderie will stick with her as well. "We had fun. And now I know 12 new names I didn't know before."

For Marble, the bunker assault mission was harrowing -- but she learned how she reacts under such conditions, and how to collect her thoughts quickly and move to a new plan when unexpected things happen.

And from the weekend as a whole, she learned that she has what it takes to lead complicated, high-stress missions. "It's very rewarding to know you can get through it," she said.