Cdt. Cmdr. Ellerbrock and others sleep on the bus on the way home from a field exercise. Exercises are typically two or three days of constant activity, little sleep and Meals Ready to Eat. By the end, the cadets are completely exhausted.

Although predominantly male, there is a significant contingent of female cadets and they are expected to do all of the same tasks as their male colleagues.

About 40 percent of the cadets served as enlisted soldiers before joining ROTC. By attending the program they can move from enlisted G.I.s to commissioned officers while attending college.

The student soldiers receive instruction for their first three years. During their fourth year, they are expected to help teach the more junior cadets. This is to prepare them for when they will command troops as lieutenants.

Gateway Battalion is based at Washington University in St. Louis, a school whose students burned down the ROTC building in the 1960s.

Cadets receive water survival training in which they must jump in fully loaded and escape from their gear underwater.

A cadet receives riflery instruction from a cadre officer during a blizzard.

Cadets carry away a "wounded" comrade after an ambush during a field exercise.

By the time they complete the program, ROTC cadets are in impeccable physical shape, have acquired the basics of soldiering and have learned how to handle themselves under stressful conditions.

Cdt. Drella pauses to recover during a debriefing following a field exercise.