BRADFORD — A line of troops make their way along the virgin snow-covered trail.

It’s warmed since the freezing night, and the chilling rain and snow are now just memories, along with standing watch for hostile forces, with ponchos strung from trees offering the only respite from the elements.

On the move for hours by the time the sun rose through the barren trees, the troops are tired and hungry. One leans against a tree and grabs his canteen.

Weary as he is, he doesn’t let his guard down.

To the left, over the lid of his canteen, he sees a man in civilian clothes coming through the woods. He watches as the man works his way toward the front of their line. The man kneels. He raises something black in front of him.

Is it a gun?

No, just a camera. The media. The photographer flashes a smile and gives a small wave.

The troops relax slightly — one from Brooklyn unwraps a Tootsie Roll from his ration pack for a quick pick-me-up —  but the troops see their platoon leader being approached by two villagers asking for water and firewood.

There’s rumors of improvised explosives planted along the trail. Coming down the trail, they see two people running at them.

An ambush? A suicide attack?

No, cross-country runners making their way through Allegheny National Forest.

Those are just some of the curveballs thrown at Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets from four area universities over the weekend at the annual spring field training exercise in the heart of the forest. More than 110 cadets from Canisius College, Niagara University and SUNY Brockport flocked to the Tracy Ridge camping area of the forest for the exercise planned by St. Bonaventure University’s Seneca Battalion. Forty-four Bonnies, serving as a platoon, were in the field for the exercise.

“It’s as close as you can get with all cadets,” said Lt. Col. Sean Coulter, who has led the St. Bonaventure ROTC since August. Among other activities over the four-day camp, platoon-strength groups of cadets were tasked on Saturday with practicing how to handle a refugee camp. In this scenario, the refugees have no love for Americans — they think Americans bombed their village, sending them running for their lives. The cadets set up perimeters to secure the area, then their platoon leader heads in to talk to the village leaders, seeking intelligence and offering any assistance the cadets can give.

“The scenario the cadets use is the same that the whole army uses for actual unit training,” Coulter said. Himself a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’s seen this scenario played out in real life, and knows the value. “With the limitations we have, this is as real as it gets.”

The exercises are often done at bases like Fort Drum in northern New York, said cadet Jacob McCollum, who serves as the battalion’s media relations officer. At one exercise, he was part of training using Blackhawk helicopters and mock city blocks to learn.

But even though this exercise wasn’t anywhere near as equipment-reliant as a helicopter raid — no live or blank-firing weapons were used, and heavy body armor wasn’t taken into the field, either — the training was designed to get cadets to use what they’ve been learning in weekly labs on tactics, land navigation and other areas.

“They already know their tactics; they’re getting to practice it,” he said.

“This is a big combination of everything we learned in lab,” said freshman cadet Harley Anderson. “We learn all kinds of things in lab, and this lets us all put it together.”

There’s more to it, she said. Like being able to work with people you know nothing about.

“It’s nice because everybody learns different things at the different schools, so it helps level the playing field,” Anderson said.

And it helps form more than just shared training experience.

“I’m sharing my tent with two guys, one from Canisius and one from Niagara,” said junior Ian McLellan, adding the weather helped form new bonds of friendship. “Things like this bring people together.”

And building that camaraderie is important, Coulter said.

“They’re crying that their feet are cold, but as soon as you get a fire going, their eyes light up, they get happy and there’s probably some singing at some point,” Coulter said.

Things don’t always go as planned, cadets and instructors agreed.

After one platoon’s execution of the village action, McCollum and instructor Capt. Jared Kausner took two journalists out to Checkpoint 1. The checkpoint was the planned site of a force-on-force exercise, a combat simulation, on the ridge above a ravine several hundred meters away from the village. Planted at the checkpoint, the observers were told the cadets were about half an hour away.

But the cadets moved faster than expected. And went to the other side of the ravine, where they met the opposing force. Observers only saw glimpses of the battle through the trees 100 yards away.

“We’ve been planning this for months, but we were changing things at 7 a.m.,” McCollum said.

While unfortunate, Coulter said it’s to be expected with such a large operation, and cadets are expected to think on their feet.

“The army used to have all this very scripted — be here at a certain time,” Coulter said. “Now, we tell them go down this way and do this (when in place). The army doesn’t want textbook leaders — they want active, fluid leaders who can think on their feet.”

And with the cold weather, there were several minor injuries reported.

Anderson, for example, spent much of the weekend at headquarters with a possible knee injury. She wasn’t out of work, though. She spent her time staffing the headquarters, manning the radio and assisting the coordination of the exercises.

“I’ve never had to do anything like this before,” Anderson said.

Even just the presence of unknown elements, like observing journalists and cross-country runners, keep cadets on their toes.

“You don’t get a whole lot of classes on what happens when you find civilians in the woods, or reporters in the woods,” Coulter said, adding he hopes to bring in St. Bonaventure University journalism students to help more in future exercises.

With the training comes thoughts of how it will be used.

On the first night of the training, U.S. cruise missiles were launched at Syrian government targets, and on Saturday it was announced the Navy is sending a carrier strike group to sit off the coast of North Korea in response to that country’s continued flaunting of its nuclear weapons program.

With tensions globally, there’s a chance the cadets could be called upon to go into harm’s way.

“It’s a scary thought, but when you wear this uniform, you do what you have to do,” said junior Courtney Newhouse, who plans on serving when out of college.

Anderson, who hasn’t decided yet what she will do when she enters the Army, said the choice is simple.

“I was fortunate enough to live in a country that’s not in turmoil. … If I have an opportunity to serve, I’m going to do so,” she said. “At the end of the day, you put all politics aside and it’s what you believe in.”

It’s a thought shared by Brian Wendlind, a sophomore cadet.

“Regardless of the situation in the world, you have to do what you’re prepared to do,” Wendlind said.

And it could be anywhere.

“Tomorrow, a situation could arise in Argentina, Russia … the army will send us wherever,” said McLellan.