New ROTC boss toughens standards for cadets

by Mark McGowan

After 19 years of serving as an aviator in the U.S. Army’s combat divisions, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Engel considered himself ready to tackle a new challenge: ROTC.

“I really enjoy how much the cadets want to learn,” says Engel, who took over NIU’s program May 28 after the retirement of Lt. Col. Steve Payne. “I’ve got all this experience now. I really felt like I was in a position to help train lieutenants to come into today’s Army.”

That’s translated into a host of changes for NIU’s 80 cadets, who Engel says are reporting satisfaction with his first semester in charge.

Engel submits as evidence the “completely rewritten” handbook for cadets, a thick volume that he says was once far slimmer but now enables cadets to find the answers to many of their questions about the program.

Its update posed one of the first tasks for Engel’s new crop of seniors, who came to campus a week before school started to see how their year ahead was set up and to prepare for their role as leaders.

“We are developing standards here that are the same as the Army has. It’s an invisible transition from the university to the ranks,” Engel says. “It’s meant increased standards for the cadets. We’ve made it tougher.”

Seniors “developed training guidelines and training schedules and really did an outstanding job of if,” he adds. “They’re finally in a position to make decisions and apply their leadership skills.”

Engel also is working to ensure the lessons the cadets receive in the classroom mirror what they learn in labs and field training exercises. He also believes the stricter procedures now in place will attract more students who hunger for the Army-grade discipline.

Married with three children, Engel’s job at NIU returns him to his roots. The Wisconsin native graduated from the ROTC program at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

The proper training is crucial, he says.

“Not a year after they leave the university, they’re serving somewhere in Operation Enduring Freedom,” he says. “ROTC provides a sense of responsibility leaders have to soldiers and the responsibility that comes with leading soldiers. Leaderships skills come naturally.”

11-1-04