Meet the Army Community Day set for Friday at Adrian College

ADRIAN — Several Army combat and transport vehicles will be on display outside of Adrian College’s Merillat Sport and Fitness Center Friday, April 14, as part of a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and Michigan National Guard’s “Meet the Army Community Day.”

Some of the equipment expected to be on display from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. include an M-ATV, a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle; a Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle; and a M777 Howitzer, which is a large artillery piece, a news release from Adrian College said.

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter also is scheduled to fly in for the event. The helicopter, the college announced Wednesday, is expected to land between 8:15 and 8:45 a.m. Friday. Changes could happen, the college stated, but this is the initial plan.

Adrian College Campus Safety Capt. Andy Lopez is assisting with the logistics.

This aerial photograph shows a section of the parking lot for the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center and Docking Stadium on the campus of Adrian College. Several Army combat and transport vehicles will be on display outside of the Merillat Center Friday, April 14, for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and Michigan National Guard’s “Meet the Army Community Day.”

The landing zone for the helicopter will be in the Merillat parking lot near Pellowe Hall, a news release said. While people are welcome to watch, they will need to stay 100 feet away because of the dust-up caused by the helicopter’s descent. The best viewing area, as suggested by Adrian College, will be around the perimeters of the landing zone at Dawson Auditorium, near the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center, the stadium entrance to Docking Stadium and Creehan Lane. Army National Guard personnel will be directing people to safe viewing areas, the release said.

Adrian police also will work with the college to close the area of South Charles Street temporarily during the helicopter’s landing and takeoff. It is expected that the street will be closed for 10-15 minutes each time.

This map shows the parking lot for the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center at Adrian College, Charles Street and Michigan Avenue. The area marked in red in the parking lot is where a CH-47 Chinook helicopter is expected to land Friday morning for Meet the Army Community Day at the college. The yellow markings on Charles Street show where traffic will be stopped when the helicopter lands at takes off.

“Once the landing is complete, traffic can resume and patients can enter the (parking) lot to the (Adrian College) Medical clinic,” the release said.

The college said it is hoping to provide enough time for the public to become aware of the Army Community Day so that it is not “concerned something serious is happening on our campus,” Tina Claiborne, exercise science and athletic training director/professor and coordinator of the event, said in the release.

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In addition to the display of combat vehicles, visitors will be able to try on Army gear including bullet-resistant vests and helmets and shoot in an indoor, virtual smokeless range.

People will be able to take pictures with soldiers, talk with ROTC and National Guard members about scholarships and watch the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) competition in Docking Stadium. Guests can also tour the combat and transport vehicles and have other interactive experiences during the no-cost event, the release said.

Claiborne coordinated the event to give students a chance to find out about the ROTC scholarship opportunities specific to Adrian College as well as opportunities through the Michigan National Guard.

“The impetus for this event was to actually support the Army’s new Holistic Health and Fitness, or H2F, system. It’s the Army’s largest and most comprehensive effort to care for our nation’s soldiers, improve their readiness and prevent injuries,” Claiborne said in the release. “The Army is investing heavily in our soldiers’ health, wellness and performance optimization.”

Claiborne said when talking to her current exercise science and athletic training students, she found out they weren’t aware of the ROTC scholarship opportunities available to them on campus.

“People have a different view of what committing to the Army means,” she said. “Many students aren’t aware that ROTC programs can actually be explored before they have to commit. So that prompted me to reach out to the National Guard in Michigan and Adrian’s ROTC program that we have right here on campus.

“As I learned more and our ideas evolved, we decided that we needed to educate and create some awareness and, in tandem with that, support this notion of holistic health and fitness across campus.”

The Tactical Athlete Competition will pit Adrian College students, faculty and staff against each other in a fun and competitive fitness challenge. Claiborne said the ACFT has been revamped to be a more accurate assessment of a person’s fitness to serve.

Teams of four competitors will go through the entire ACFT and be graded as if they were in the Army to see “how they stack up,” the release said.

Friday’s program is being brought together through Adrian College’s ROTC program, the University of Toledo, the Michigan Army National Guard, the Reserves, those who are serving and those who are training to serve.

Adrian College has long partnered with the ROTC and recently added a new academic program, a minor in military science and leadership, that gives students a “unique opportunity,” the college said, to check out the ROTC to see if it would be a good fit for them without having to commit to join the Army.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Meet the Army Community Day April 14 at Adrian College