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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 196
ROTC: Pro and Con
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What If they threw a war and nobody came?
a popular poster
. ' It may never happen, but if nobody came' the
world wouldn't need a reserve officer training
- corps, graduate flight schools, naval academies
or anything to remind people that the sword stands
" xeady behind the pen.
But as long as the freedom of expression, the
right to assemble and to dissent are values worth
getting excited over, then there will always be
4rie prerequisite for an armed force to support
SCUose values and ward off the power thrusts of
those few who seek total control.
The United States as a major world power
Zr has inherently taken on the responsibility of
maintaining an adequate military strength.
In order to have the best men manage the
.jank and file, the Armed Forces seek to develop
draining programs that will yield high quality of
ZJken maybe not every time but as consistently
as possible.
The best training program to date is the
Reserve Officer Training Crops (ROTC) from which
3He services draw more than 50 per cent of their
-fficers. It is not the best program because It
Jias the highest yield (21,000 last year). It is not
even the best program because the Pentagon says
rso.
- It is the best program because ROTC combines
quality civilian resources throughout the nation
college-trained men with sound military training
and tradition. This interplay between civilian
university and military instruction is the essence
of ROTC. The result is a civilian controlled citizen
officer corps, not a professional, armed force.
Far from static
The ROTC program furthermore is not static.
Curriculum revisions have been made continually
since its inception. The fact that Secretary of
Defense Melvin Laird established a special com
mittee to consult with college faculty and ad
ministrators does not mean that the ROTC program
is in for its big 20-year change this year.
Secretary Laird reiterated in June that "we
are prepared to consider changes which would im
prove the program at individual schools. We are'
not prepared to see the program degraded in any
way."
For the first time in almost a decade sine
ROTC was openly denounced with noticeable in
tensity by left wing students in California tha
moderates began showing interest in improving
ROTC, not to the satisfaction of the campus radicals
(who protest at less than 10 per cent of the colleges
offering ROTC), but to the satisfaction of the entire
academic community.
Hence: the Laird team to talk with ad
ministrators and speed np ROTC curriculum
revitalizatlon.
One member of that team told a Congressional
investigating committee in April that "only if ROTC
courses meet the same high academic standards
as other courses do, should they qualify for
academic credit."
Matter of credits
Fewer than 10 schools of the 350 offering ROTC
do not grant credit for it. None have dropped
credit entirely during the past year. The trend
will be to "beef up" ROTC courses, and if such
improvements do not yet satisfy the college or
university, its administrators will be advised to
cancel its contract as did Harvard this year
The Pentagon with a waiting list of more
than 100 schools to acquire ROTC detachments
will not keep ROTC where it is not wanted.
When this happens, the school denies at least
some of its students the opportunity to enroll In
a course they choose to take. Compulsory ROTC
Is all but wiped out. It has become voluntary,
like any other course offering.
The effect obviously has been decreased enroll
ment. The drop in ROTC freshman enrollmenta
"throughout the nation this fall has also been In
fluenced by seemingly fewer hostilities in Vietnam,
President Nixon's cancellation of the draft for
November and December and the proposed yet
. unacted upon volunteer army all of which might
' indicate peace in the near future.
' After Vietnam
. If Vietnam ends soon, tha need for ROTC
graduates will be reduced. Lower enrollments will
not erase the value put on the program. But until
- a peace treaty Is signed, a volunteer army is
created or the draft is abolished, those who might
have enrolled but didn't have still left their military
' commitment to chance.
' " A survey was conducted among the freshman
"Army ROTC cadets at the University to poll their
reasons for enrolling in the program. Less than
five per cent wrote in reply that it was the best
way to avoid the draft.
Graduates
If the rest were honest in their replies, that
class will graduate cadets who are Interested in
leading other men to the best of their civilian
military ability for at least two years. The program
will have been worth it.
When somebody throws a war nowadays,
lot of people come. When the United States Is
Invited, It goes In the Interest of freedom for an
oppressed people or It doesn't go at all, depending
on the politics of the situation.
; Until the day when nobody comes, the
necessary evil of an armed force will be required.
The best training programs will be needed to main
tain that force. ROTC qualifies as such a program.
It should be retained. It will be improved.
Kent Cockson, Nebraskan managing editor
DAILY NEBRASKAN
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.Nebraskan editorials
Domestic dissenters on Vietnam
think Nixon's had enough time
By Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Washington A private conversation last week
In the White House between Dr. Henry Kissinger,
the President's foreign policy adviser, and two
Republican Congressmen shows how President
Nixon is losing the crucial battle for time in his
effort to wind down the Vietnam war.
Kissinger's purpose was to persuade Reps.
Donald Riegle of Michigan and Pete McCloskey
of California not to Introduce their formal proposal
to repeal the Tonkin Gulf resolution effective Dec.
31, 1970 In effect, a 15-month deadline to end
the undeclared war.
The two youthful Republicans, who have kept
the White House informed of their plans, hope
their resolution will presuade Mr. Nixon to ac
celerate Vietnamization of the war and withdrawal
of U.S. troops.
Neither Congressman would reveal to us details
of their 45-minute talk with Kissinger on Sept.
16. From Administration sources, however, wed
learned Kissinger invited them to the White House
to make the appeal:
Every political move that gives Hanoi fresh
evidence of rising anti-war fever in the U.S. s
one more nail in the coffin of ths President's plan
to compel or persuade Hanoi to negotiate an end
to the war.
Appeal for time
Kissinger was appealing for time, the most
precious commodity left to Mr. Nixon in his attempt
to wind down the war fast enough to satisfy his
critics but not so fast that Hanoi will feel no
pressure to negotiate.
The Rlegle-McCloskey resolution would do just
the opposite. It would show Hanoi that two middle
of the road Republicans, close to the younger gener
ation, were trying to strip the President of his
only statutory authority for waging the war
the Tonkin Bay resolution overwhelmingly passed
by Congress in August, 1964, at President Johnson's
request.
Kissinger's low-key appeal to the. two
Republicans failed. They respectfully informed him
they would not change their plan. The resolution
will be introduced within ten days.
Here Is no Isolated Incident. This unsuccessful
effort by Kissinger Is of a piece with similar ap
proaches by other high Administration officials to
defuse the anti-war movement In a desperate play
for the all-Important element of time.
President Nixon is convinced that if just two
leading war critics Sen. J. W. Fulbright of
Arkansas, chairman of the Foreign Relations Com
mittee, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield
of Montana gave the Administration a six-month
moratorium on all war criticism, the Impact on
Hanoi could be decisive. That Is, the Communists
would read into such a political shift a warning
that Mr. Nixon's troop withdrawal policy had taken
the cutting edge off dissent at home.
No grace period
But neither Fulbright nor Mansfield has the
slightest intention of giving the President a grace
period. To the contrary, the war critics are getting
ready to escalate their campaign this fall.
Thus, many Congressmen will personally take
part in the massive anti-war demonstration set
tor Oct. 15.
A move is now underfoot in the House, for
example, for a bipartisan delegation of Con
gressmen to attend a brief vigil at Arlington Na
tional Cemetery that day. Likewise, Rep. Allard
Lowenstein of New York, the Democrat who lit
the fuse in the 1967 dump-Johnson movement, will
speak on at least two campuses Oct. 15 in support
of the movement.
What this means is that the diligent efforts
of the Administration to buy time with troop
withdrawals and with cancellation of draft calls
for November and December have fallen far short
of the goal.
As McCloskey told us: "I don't think the draft
reduction is going to fool anyone. It is simply
an effort to buy time."
Yet, the President has few remaining options.
He has ruled out escalation. Nor will he "bug
out" of the war on terms that would humiliate
the U.S.
Further complicating the President's position
is the pressure tor caution in troop withdrawals
from the uniformed military, from the U.S.
Embassy in Saigon, and from career Foreign
Service diplomats (led by Under Secretary Alexis
Johnson).
But to follow their advice is to travel the
political route of Lyndon B. Johnson. Thus, with
no less a power in the Administration than
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird strongly
counselling faster withdrawals and with
Republicans such as Riegle and McCloskey In
creasingly restive, the President has little choice
but to increase the pace of troop withdrawals and
the winding-down of the war.
Things are changing?
by Bruce Cochrane, Student Senator
A funny thing happened on the way to the
forum Wednesday. NU's illustrious student govern
ment spent nearly thirty thousand dollars of student
fees, and it was done in a remarkably casual
way.
Upperclassmen you may remember a program
sponsored by the National Student Association and
ASUN called Time Out, which student government
voted not to have last year. Time Out occurred
anyway because the resolution was vetoed by Craig
Dreezen, last year's president, who quit after one
Ineffectual semester.
ASUN lost $500 on that weakly attended event.
Well we're going to do it again only bigger
and better this year. We're going to spend $3,500
to bring in for 36 hours four speakers: a past
president of the Berkely campus, now president
of NSA; a liberal educator from New York: a
militant black leader from Cornell University, and
a past officer of SDS, now a writer for the Man
chester Guardian.
Although these people are not representatives
of the trend of thought that prevails here, a group
of your representatives feel you should be educated
as they know best. And don't ask about specifics
of the finances involved because you'll only get
generalities.
We also set aside $3,000 to bring in speakers
next March for ihe World in Revolution program.
I don't know who they'll be but I can guess their
political alignment.
Then there was $3,000 for the Human Rights
Committee. A thousand to be earmarked to organize
the Indians and Mexicans on campus, which one
Student Activities office says number no more than
30. We were also going to give $500 to the Afro
American Society which.' considering it Includes
350 students in special circumstances, it can use
and certainly deserves. However, the way we gave
the money was Interesting. One senator asked for
the $500; someone told him the black students
could really use $800, so he asked the secretary
to amend it to $800. Before she could get the
floor a third senator laughingly whispered across
the table to make it a thousand which was done
and passed.
The senator who made the motion, a past officer
of the local SDS was then asked what the society
planned to do with the money. The first thing
he said was that if he had his way he'd give
them $19,000, and the second thing was that he
didn't know what was going to be done because
he didn't feel it proper to ask.
I don't want to bore the reader, but then so
meone asked for $500 to support candidates in
the next Regents elections. When he was asked
who was to supervise the spending of the money
and the choosing of candidates to support, he
answered. "Well me and this other guy."
Like I said, it was all very casual.
ROTC Is Mickey Mouse. While the terminology
may make English professors wince, nothing could
be more truthful. ROTC is a bunch of Mickey
Mouse.
What does ROTC offer? What Is in the cur.
rlculum? Veteran officers in charge use words like
"leadership, opportunity, adventure, and
challenge." What propaganda; what a laugh.
The first thing any ROTC student learns is
to scan the shirt collars of the ROTC instructors.
For if they have a shiny looking piece of metal
there, they are officers. Each is a little Jesus,
to be hallowed, revered and respected, and ad
dressed only as "sir."
The student will spend much of his time learn
ing when to say "yes sir, no sir" and worrying
about what will happen if he guesses wrong.
Then there are the other important things. Tho
ROTC shirt must be ironed a certain way. Tho
ROTC belt buckle must be worn just so. The ROTC
cap must be tilted at just the right angle.
Demerits
If a student does not learn these very Important
things, demerits may result. More than five
demerits a semester results in a lower percentage
grade for the course.
Even more important than the clothing is the
brass and shoes. Classes are held to teach the
ROTC student to polish the brass properly, and
spit shine the shoes in the military way. Failure
to learn these very important things results in
more demerits.
Then there is the "leadership laboratory," also
known as an hour of marching each week. This
represents the most detestable characteristic of
ROTC and the military authoritarianism.
Trained Animals
ROTC students march around the campus much
like trained animals, blindly following the com
mands of their "leaders." Repulsive is the only
way to describe it.
Colleges and universities exist to encourage
an individual to think and understand for himself.
Yet ROTC students must bow to and accept
authoritarianism exactly the opposite of
everything college stands for.
After all this, the curriculum may allow a
little time for studying former army battles, or
learning about a military map, or perhaps gaining
a few bits of knowledge about the Department
of Defense.
Even worse than the degradation and Mickey
Mouse that a student faces during his four years
of training Is what ROTC really stands for.
Despite the shiny shoes, the snazzy uniforms
and the impressive bearing of students and officers,
ROTC is training men to fight in a forlorn,
worthless patch of jungle where the majority of
the inhabitants would rather not see Americans.
ROTC trains men to fight, not for their country,
but for a military-industrial establishment that
delights in making millions of dollars while hun
dreds of young men lose their lives weekly fighting
a war that cannot and will not be won.
In theory, ROTC trains men to defend
democratic, free and progressive society. In reality,
however, they are enslaved In an undemocratic,
nnfree and unprogressive society.
It cannot be denied that ROTC ultimately trains
men to burn, pillage, torture, maim, gas andkill.
See the Light
Fortunately, many students and colleges are
beginning to see the light. ROTC enrollment U
down drastically at NU and throughout the country.
Harvard and Dartmouth are the first colleges to
throw ROTC off the campus. They're the first
and they're ahead of their time but they
won't be the last.
The time will come, not this year or next
year, but soon, when ROTC will be gone from
every university In the United States. And then
ROTC on campus, and every ugly thing it standi
for, will become only a sick memory.
John Dvorak, Nebraskan staff writer
Spock phenomenon
Yesterday afternoon In the Nebraska Union I
witnessed one of the most amazing spectacles I
have seen during four years at this university.
More than 1,700 students gathered for a speech
by Dr. Benjamin Spock. The Centennial Room,
with a seating capacity of 1,000, packed to the
walls and through the doors with additional hun
dreds, was only part of the story. About 600 people
sat in complete silence In the main lounge, listening
intently.
A turnout of this kind was seen and was to
be expected for Robert Kennedy or Eugene
McCarthy.
But for Dr. Spock? Dr. Spock, a public figure
without a public character in the minds of most
of us, long known for his ideas on child rearing
and most recently a major figure in attempts to
spark official challenges of the Vietnam war
through the Judicial system of the United States,
a crowd of this size on this campus is unparalleL
ed.
This should prove an awakening for those
students who often have dismissed failures to spark
mass support for reform on our campus with the
cliche "students are apathetic." It may be a portent
of the year Just begun. Students obviously art
not apathetic on the war, a question that seems
Important to them and to their world. The movers
and shakers will have to prove to these students
that a cause is worth moving and shaking for
Holly Rosenberger, editorial page assistant
gii'MHiimiii i'i)iiiiiiiiiHiiitiiniHiiHiiiiiiiiiiii!iitiiiiinmiiii!mim!ii(iiU)uii!g
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