Charlie Company First Platoon charts
new course in community service

By Cadet SSGT Doug Schmid ’07

Cadet SSGT Doug Schmid ’07

On Oct. 29, a Saturday when the rest of the Corps was either in class or enjoying an extended sleep, 10 members of Charlie Company First Platoon invested more than 40 hours in a service project with a different twist. The members of this platoon worked on priming, painting and drywalling a halfway house in downtown Charleston.

The unique thing about project was the reason behind it. Community service in the traditional sense is not new at The Citadel, but using community service as a leader development exercise that also maintains unit integrity to accomplish an objective is a different approach. Looking at community service in the context of leadership and team-building could have great benefits for the Corps of Cadets.

While the Charlie Company cadets were working at the halfway house, First Battalion Commander Jonathan Lovette visited the site to show support. “This project offers cadets a tangible way to have an impact and see that impact on someone else’s life,” he said. “When you break down groups into 10 or 12 workers, their personal impact is more recognizable.”

To accomplish the leadership development goal of this service project, the platoon was segmented into three squads under the command of corporal-academy participants. Each of these squads was tasked with a different mission, and all of the missions were completed within the allotted time frame under the direction of the team leaders.

Traditional orders and after-action reports were published to further develop the platoon staff. All of these reports were also given to the company tactical officers for advice and revision.

Lovette said that, “Charlie Company had the first objective that was undertaken by a unit. The [current] system that is in place for public service needs reform. First battalion can take the initiative and create a program that is a lot more conductive to the needs of the Corps [of Cadets].”

Pausing for a break are (from left) Cadets Knight, Amato, Lovette, Ruff and Kelsey.

If the rest of the Corps of Cadets could take this type of service-project model and use it as a template for future projects, not only would the culture of the Corps change to one focusing more on what good it can do for the community, but the approach could also ease the ubiquitous charges that rank merely determines one’s position in parade.

A special thanks goes out to the team-leaders Brian Ruff, Nathan Mallon and Richard Dana for their tireless efforts to accomplish their respective missions.

Top of page Articles in this edition