Editor’s note: This is the second story of a two-part series.

Second Platoon, Alpha Company had moved into the woods to chase down the Criminally thugs when its cadets decided to separate.

Operation Huskie Thaw, the spring 2005 ROTC field-training exercise, ran from Friday evening until Sunday.

The two squads of the 2nd Platoon had separated; the task at hand was to get back together and launch an assault on the Criminally.

Continuous hiking and radio contact reunited the two squads. Now the cadets could try to find the mortar position, which attacked them earlier.

The platoon’s leadership, Cadets Adam Clark, Todd Gross and Stephanie Gay conferred to come up with a plan of attack.

The plan involved two elements – support and assault – said Cadet Adam Clark, a junior political science major. The support element needed to lay down suppressive fire while the assault element made its move.

First, the platoon had to perform a reconnaissance patrol to see if it could find the objective.

The patrol lasted about 15 minutes and looked for the mortar, number of enemies, cover and concealment and other variables, Gross said.

The time for the attack came.

The mortar position sat in the edge of the woods, across a fire break from 2nd Platoon. Five Criminally thugs, armed with M-16s and the mortar tube waited to fight off the approaching U.S. forces.

A green smoke grenade popped – the signal for the attack.

The support element opened fire; a minute’s pause, and the assault element rushed across the break toward the tree line.

It took cover behind the trees, using the thorny undergrowth for concealment. The troops began firing on the Criminally position, the Criminally returned fire and a vicious firefight ensued.

The cadets moved quickly to overtake the Criminally position.

The five thugs were overtaxed, firing at the support element while facing an onslaught from their left flank. Within moments, the battle ended.

By the time the “bullets” stopped flying, the five Criminally lay “dead” and “dying”; one thug lay twitching in the clearing, in the throes of “death.” Another lay contorted oddly against a tree, “dead.”

The assault team suffered one “casualty” during the battle. Cadet Chris Morales, freshman history and education major, was “killed in action” as a result of an abdominal “wound.”

The cadets of 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company were victorious against the Criminally. They “killed” all five thugs and destroyed the mortar tube. The fight, for the moment, was over.

The training, realistic and difficult, could have a profound impact on the cadets’ futures.

“They get a chance to develop their leadership abilities and techniques here, where there’s not real bullets and there’s not real consequences,” said Cadet Zack Riddle, one of the officers who commands NIU Army ROTC. “I do think this gives them a reality of the possibilities that could come in their career, and that’s good because it gives them an internal seriousness to the training.”