Student Experience

Candidates Endure Rigors on Path to Naval ROTC Program

August 27, 2024 • By Matt Kelly, mkelly@virginia.edu Matt Kelly, mkelly@virginia.edu

Candid photo of Ouzman Cisse on the left and Henry Addison undergoing military training as they tackle the obstacle course.

Candidate Ouzman Cisse, left, takes the 40-pound backpack from Candidate Henry Addison as they navigate the obstacle course. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

They met as strangers and became a team.

Seven candidates to be midshipmen in the University of Virginia’s Naval ROTC program arrived on Grounds well in advance of their classmates’ move-in days for three days of military training. The candidates, all planning to eventually be commissioned in the U.S. Navy, had participated in some introductory training at the Great Lakes Naval Station, but this was their first time together as UVA NROTC candidates.

Older NROTC midshipmen, returning from their own summer trainings, worked with the candidates, enforcing military discipline and providing instruction and training.

“They’re holding them accountable for everything – every little thing that we teach them,” U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Vernon Ditaranto, an assistant NROTC instructor overseeing the candidates’ training, said. “I’m making sure they’re staying on task, they’re doing everything right.”

‘Inside UVA’ A Podcast Hosted by Jim Ryan

The candidates came from all around the state – students with aspirations to be biologists, engineers, physicists and nurses, spending all their time together, billeted in Warner Hall, the Navy ROTC’s home.

For several, military service is a family tradition.

Ouzman Cisse, a mechanical engineering student from Dumfries, joined the Navy because his family members had already been in a variety of other branches. He selected UVA because he wanted a good education, but still be near family.

Pria Dua, a biochemistry major from Rockingham, has a family history in the Navy. “I think the core values and mission of the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole aligned with my personal views and who I want to become and who I see myself being in the future,” she said.

She also has a personal connection to the Navy: Her older sister is a third-year student in UVA’s Naval ROTC program.

Candid photo of U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Vernon Ditaranto, right, one of the career Marines overseeing the candidates’ training, observes as Candidate Briana Bozeman surmounts a barrier on the obstacle course.

U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Vernon Ditaranto, right, one of the career Marines overseeing the candidates’ training, observes as Candidate Briana Bozeman surmounts a barrier on the obstacle course. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

“I have someone to push me and to guide me,” she said, “someone to look up to and be there with me and be there for me the whole way.”

The candidates’ final day of training included team-building exercises at the Poplar Ridge ropes course. Under the guidance of facilitator Gil Benmoshe, an outdoors instructor for University Recreation, the candidates played games designed to challenge them to rely on each other – “co-op-itition,” as Benmoshe called it. They had to swing across a small stream, on a rope, blindfolded, trusting their teammates would catch them.

At Milton Field, east of town, an obstacle course similar to one at the Marine Corps’ training facilities in Quantico, challenged the candidates’ team-building skills while testing their physical stamina.

The seven candidates had to move two 40-pound backpacks from one end of the course to the other, without letting the packs touch the ground. If the packs touched the ground, they had to start over. Each candidate had to overcome each obstacle, but his or her teammates could assist.

Candid photo of Cisse, left, climbs a barrier on the obstacle course, while Candidate Pria Dua helps one of her teammates over an obstacle.

Cisse, left, climbs a barrier on the obstacle course, while Candidate Pria Dua helps one of her teammates over an obstacle. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

As the course progressed, obstacles got harder, requiring the group to work together while engaging in peer/small-group leadership. The last obstacle involved climbing vertical ropes while carrying a pack.

Kaitlyn Lytton, an incoming biology major from Oakton who had difficulty getting over earlier barriers, started climbing the rope with a 40-pound pack. With the help of taller members who helped support some of the pack’s weight, Lytton, her face drenched with sweat and strained with effort, reached the required level.

Lytton, who comes from a Navy family, said the obstacle course revealed her strengths and weaknesses.

“I learned that I am capable of pushing through and trying a lot harder than I thought I was able to,” she said. “And I learned that I really like working as a unit here, and I really like working together with my shipmates as a unit.”

U.S. Navy Capt. Michael Rovenolt, commander of the UVA Naval ROTC program, said this group came together more quickly than some of the previous classes he had seen.

Candid photo of Kaitlyn Lytton, left, learned that she enjoyed working as part of a team. At right, candidates and midshipmen watch Dua lift herself up on a structure on the obstacle course.

Candidate Kaitlyn Lytton, left, learned that she enjoyed working as part of a team. At right, candidates and midshipmen watch Dua lift herself up on a structure on the obstacle course. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

“Several of them have some pretty strong physicality, athletic abilities, and they shared that as those without started learning how to be more athletic and physically capable,” he said, “especially when we took them to the obstacle course.”

Cisse said the training challenged him mentally and physically.

“You have to hang in there, stay tough, follow the orders, and then keep on going,” he said. “I learned how to cooperate with my fellow candidates, how to take orders, how to slow down my breathing and be calm.”

Dua said she learned she must be a follower before she can be a leader, and that the next four years will be an opportunity to become the best naval officer she can be.

“In high-pressure situations, sometimes I tend to freeze up or get nervous to share my ideas,” she said. “But I definitely learned this week that when I’m struggling, the people around me are struggling, too, and having a positive attitude is the only thing that’s going to help them.”

Candid photo of demonstrating teamwork as they assisted each other over the barriers in the obstacle course.

Candidates demonstrated teamwork as they assisted each other over the barriers in the obstacle course. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

On Thursday morning, the candidates and their families reconvened for a short swearing-in ceremony at the McIntire Amphitheater.

“They are no longer midshipmen candidates,” Rovenolt said after the ceremony. “They are midshipmen fourth class, and now we have four years to get them up to the standards of a first class and then become commissioned naval officers. They are no longer candidates, and they are being welcomed into the unit as we speak, as they now prepare themselves to become first-year students at the University of Virginia.”