The winter holiday break usually means downtime, rest, and recoupment. For the Paul Revere Battalion, it was anything but that. Three cadets graduated from the Sabalauzski Air Assault Course at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and proudly showed why the MIT Army ROTC program is the best in the country.  Furthermore, the professors of military science from the Greater Boston area met with the regional commanding general, Brigadeer General Bienlien, to pave the way for further course development and educational opportunities for cadets to collaborate with the Department of Defense. This unique opportunity will ensure success to all stakeholders, much like the Army ROTC Hackathon program has in recent years.

In January, seven cadets and two cadre traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to link up with their Special Operations Command (SOCOM) partners to modernize their Hackathon projects. The cadets briefed the progress they have made both in person and virtually since October 2020 on the two main projects: Drowning in Data and Drone as a Teammate.  The success of these outcomes only strengthens our relationship with the SOCOM team, and they are excited to continue the partnership with our cadets to solve complex problem sets.

Most recently, the ROTC department started a mindfulness program called Compete to Create: Warriors Edge, which is run by Coach Pete Carrol and Dr. Michael Gervias. The program covers mindset skills, psychological frameworks, and overall mind/body recovery to ensure the cadets are prepared to be future military leaders. Each cadre pairs up with a senior cadet to coach, teach, and mentor them on a weekly basis through the various topics. When the senior cadets are roughly halfway through their 7-week program, they will then have the junior cadets start week 1 and thus mentor the junior cadets week by week.

— Lisa Morin, Army ROTC