Published: October 2011
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A Boston College Minute: The Boston College ROTC company holds an open physical training session, 6 a.m., October 5, 2011.
In the dark of an autumn morning, the 34 cadets of the Boston College Army Reserve Officer Training Corps’ (ROTC) Bravo Company assembled in the University’s Rec Plex for 90 minutes of physical training (PT), as they do three times a week. The 25 men and 9 women, dressed in military-issue black shorts and grey t-shirts, were joined by some 20 friends and staff, there to take part in one of several PT sessions open to campus “civilians” during the school year. After falling into formation, the group ran through a series of conditioning exercises, then broke into smaller squads. Some continued with indoor drills while others headed outside—to run up the Higgins Stairs and tackle three additional workouts, including sprints with five-gallon jugs of water on the dew-drenched Bapst lawn. After an hour and a half, the company and friends joined vice-provost for undergraduate academic affairs Donald Hafner for a group photo, before being dismissed onto a campus just waking up.