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Palensky said all the programs work on
a two-year minimum and a four-year maxi
mum. Some cases pay a total of 54,800 in
tuition and $10,800 in stipends awarded to
the enlistee for education assistance for a
total package of $ 1 5 ,600.
Further incentives to join up include
cash bonuses of $1,500 to $5,000 part of
which is paid at time )f enlistment and the
rest at the end of the tour, he said.
It must be remembered Palensky said,
"Not only do you receive bonuses and edu
cational assistance, but at the end of tour
you come with a marketable skill as well."
There are also loan forgiveness pro
grams, where a college student with out
standing Guaranteed Student Loans or the
National Direct Student Loans may have
them "forgiven" by Uncle Sam in exchange
for duty. Palensky said the loans would be
paid off at a rate of 33 and one-third per
cent per year or $1,500 per year of service,
whichever is greater.
These programs are for those who tried
college and found it wasn't for them or
decided they would rather go into the
military branch as an enlisted serviceman
or a non-commissioned officer, Palensky
said. The loan forgiveness programs also
apply to reservists but at a rate of 15 per
cent reduced each year or $500, whichever
is greater.
Currently there are 650 ROTC programs
operating in the United States. Recruit
ment through the ROTC program since its
initiation in 1945 has reached a total of
328,000 graduates serving in the armed
forces.
Most officers Palensky said, are recruit
ed out of the ROTC program instead of the
non-commissioned officer route, and the
academies.
The only direct commissions available
without any formal military training is
medical personnel, he said. Because of the
demand for doctors currently experienced
in the military, he said, medical school
graduates can receive a direct officer's com
mission with a six month basic camp as
opposed to boot camp.
Palensky said, "If they qualify for the
programs, they seem to be choosing these
types of programs more and more. These
programs are just one of the ways the
military gets quality personnel into the ser
vices." Lt. Col. Rowdy Williams, professor of
Military Science at UNL, noted similar re
cruitment programs in the Army ROTC
training program.
It is a four-year program, where the stu
dent as a freshman enters towards a career
decision just before his or her junior year.
Up until then, Williams said, they have no
obligation to continue, but once the
contract is signed, they are committed for
the next two years of college and a four
year hitch in the Army.
Williams said the most notable improve
ment in the recruitment program at UNL
involving the Army has been in the area of
scholarships.
Currently there are 12 four-year term
scholarships out for freshmen, with six
three-year scholarships; four two-year
scholarships and none in the senior class.
Williams said recruitment has increased
from one person last year to 10 ROTC stu
dents in the Army program. The Army has
given UNL two more scholarships for
minority recruitment.
The Air Force, unlike the other branch
es of the military, has not been having very
much of a problem with recruitment. In
fact. Col. James DuBois. professor of Aero
space Studies at UNL, said the Air Force
ROTC program at UNL is such that the re
cruits come seeking the Air Force rather
than the other way around.
Two-thirds of the recruitment effort,
DuBois said, centers around the scientific
and engraving professions. Physics, mathe
matics, meterology, chemistry and comput
er science play a distinct function in the
Air Force as well as the traditional flying
combat force.
DuBois said the Air Force consists of a
flying combat force which is small compar
ed to the support staff which goes into
maintaining the operating and combat
section. It has evolved into a highly tech
nical and scientific community, because of
a higher level of weapons sophistication.
DuBois said the Air Force is comprised
of three major areas aviation, navigation
and missile operations. The rest of the Air
Force community exists in the non
technical field.
The medical school student who wishes
to become part of Air Force, is supple
mented for tuition only after his or her
acceptance to medical school has been
secured. If they fail to be accepted into
medical school, they are commissioned
into the active Air Force and stay in the
active section unless they are accepted into
med school later.
DuBois said there 121 Air Force ROTC
students. DuBois said the ROTC program is
"strictly a means by which the Air Force,
introduces people to the Air Force so that
the Air Force will be supplied with high
quality educated college graduates."
Dubois said the return to the military
stems from the economy and poor job
security.
"There is a conservative shift of the
American public, since people have
recognized that the military wasn't respon
sible for the Vietnam war, but rather
government was the culprit," he added.
"I could look anybody in the face and
say the Air Force is a Fine place to go into
not only from a patriotic standpoint but as
a job standpoint as well," DuBois said.
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