|
Where
the Battle of the Little Big Horn began . . .
Garryowen, Montana
Officer candidates come face to face with military
history
Story & Photographs by Lauren
Kelly, 2009 Summer Intern, Custer Battlefield Museum
(Published Big Horn County News July 9, 2009)
 History
came alive for over 142 visiting members of the Fort Meade’s
Officer Candidate School as they embarked on a tour of the town
of Garryowen and the Custer Battlefield Museum. Swiftly becoming
an annual tradition, this is the third consecutive year that
officer candidates from the South Dakota OCS have stopped off at
the historic site as a part of a battle staff ride, an activity
that is used in the military to educate fledgling officers about
previous battle failures and successes. The candidates are
taught to approach the historic military action “from the
principles of the offense and the defense in preparation for a
military briefing that they’re going to be giving here in the
ensuing week,” says Major Jeff Crouch, a senior instructor with
the OCS.
 After
touring the museum and listening to a talk by founding Director
Chris Kortlander, potential officers were invited to hold and
examine a rare military artifact – the Springfield Carbine rifle
that once belonged to White Swan, one of Custer’s Crow Scouts.
Students were encouraged to approach Kortlander with questions
regarding military tactics, operations and equipment, and after
the whole group had toured the museum, the outfit concluded
their visit with a photograph in front of the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier. The ceremony was concluded with the
presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation to Kortlander by
the South Dakota Army National Guard Regional Training Institute
for the preservation of the historic value of the United States
Military.
 The
proximity of Fort Mead to the historic site of Little Big Horn
battle creates a particularly unique chance for the students to
connect directly with military history, both in person and in
text. Crouch verifies the integral role historical literature
plays in the learning experience, explaining, “We call on the
students who have had advanced reading assignments and they’ll
stand up and read the account through their eyes and we’ll
interject at appropriate times about time and distance, and some
of the principles of water and the offense and defense. For many
of them, that’s the first time they’ve ever been exposed to
these principles.”
Despite the disheartening implications of re-visiting the
site of a military defeat, Crouch believes that the very act of
revising the action as a group enriches the candidates’
understanding of their country and their history, “solidifying
the feelings of Americanness because they’re all looking at it
together, they’re all working towards a common goal in this
program at OCS, but at the same time they also can leave with
their own decisions on what did and did not happen.”
The students weren’t the only ones experiencing this unique
opportunity for the first time. Sergeant First Class Jonathan
Nesladek stated that while this is his first year teaching at
the Fort Meade OCS, “it is a great opportunity for the students
[but] as an instructor I learn even more as many of the students
may [ask questions] I have to embed it and instruct it.”
Nesladek has an inclusive teaching technique. “I try and put the
students in the place of Benteen, Reno, Custer. What went wrong,
what could have (in terms of the students today) been done to
turn the war around if they were in their shoes?”
 A
respect for the past permeates the curriculum of the Fort Meade
OCS, a surprisingly innovative teaching tactic not exhibited by
its peers. Major Crouch expressed a great deal of pride that
they come here to the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. “I
don’t know of any other OCS program that does take their
candidates to a battlefield and allows them to learn from
history the way that we’re doing here,” he said. Nesladek
agreed. “The opportunity to be here on-site, touch the ground on
which the battle actually occurred, gives them a better
understanding of United States history and the military.”
|
