Monday, November 29, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
More college graduates find jobs in the military
By WUIis Gray
With the job situation becoming more
difficult all the time, some college gradu
ates are finding the military a viable
alternative.
Chris Phillips, a civilian public affairs
specialist with Army Officer Recruiting,
said the number of college graduates
entering the enlisted ranks rose to 2.4
percent in 1982 from 1.7 percent in
1981.
One reason the increase occurred is
because the Army offers a variety of
opportunities for college graduates, Phillips
said. In the health care field, medical
students can have their school paid for,
he said. In return, students must serve
one year in the Army for each year of
medical school attended.
All Army officers must have college
degrees. To become an officer, one must
attend officer candidate school. After
completing the 14-week course, graduates
are commissioned as second lieutenants.
Not all college graduates enter the
Army to become officers, he said. In
some areas, graduates feel they can best
use their skills in the enlisted ranks. Grad
uates who enlist start out as privates first
class.
In addition, the Army offers a Loan
Forgiveness Program. In this program,
an officer can have one-third of his stu
dent loan paid for every year he serves,
he said.
As in the Army, all Naval officers must
be college graduates.
Officers commission
Lt. Dave Bettinson of Navy Officer
Selection said about 3,500 new officers
are commissioned each year in the Navy,
and applications for the various officer
training opportunities haye increased.
The Navy receives about 150 applicat
ions nationwide each week for both
officer candidate and aviation officer
candidate schools, Bettinson said. Appli
cations for officer programs through his
Omaha office have increased 15 percent
this year and increased 25 percent last
year.
prospective officers must first take
an officer qualification test, which mea
sures an applicant's general and technical
knowledge. After a physical examination
and approval by a selection board, candi
dates attend officer candidate school in
either Pensacola, Fla., or Newport, R.I.,
depending on what career they choose.
Master Sgt. Jerry Kuncl said that
unlike the Army and Navy, the number
of vacancies in the Air Force for officers
is standard, and there has been little
expansion in recent years.
Technical fields
There are vacancies in all medical
areas, especially non-technical positions,
Left-handed rights goal of group
Left-handed students unite!
At the Arizona State University
campus in Tempe, Ariz., left-handed
students are developing a union to
ensure that their needs are met on
campus.
David Polen, a junior political science
major, and Bill Adair, a senior finance
major, began the left-handed union
because they both had common gripes.
"We were friends, and one day
We were sitting and talking and we
realized that we were both left-handed,"
Polen said. "Then, we started talking
about common gripes, like uncomfort
able right-handed desks and spiral
notebooks."
Polen said the union's two main
goals would be to get the percentage
of left-handed desks to equal the
percentage of left-handed people on
.campus, and to have left-handed spiral
notebooks available in the campus
bookstore.
In addition, Polen said he wants
the left-handed student union to be
a social club, with left-handed happy
hours at the clubs and bars around
campus.
About 200 people currently belong
to the left-handed union, Polen said,
and about 25 people attend union
meetings which are held every three
weeks.
"We are really still in the embryo
nic stages," Polen said. "The word
is out about the union, and that is
a step in the right direction. More
left-handers are contacting us every
day."
The current project of the left
handed student union is to find out
how many left-handed students are
on the ASU campus. Polen said this
would be done througrr surveys and
tables set up in the union.
"Many ROTC students have shown
interest in the left-handed student
union," Polen said. "They want us to
work for left-handed" M-16 machine
guns."
Polen said another future goal of
the left-handed student union is to
work for a .left-handed version of
Pac-Man and other video games.
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Kuncl said. There also is a need for Grad
uates with degrees in technical fields for
research and development.
Once a prospective officer's application
has been accepted, the applicant spends
12 weeks at officer training school, Kuncl
said. After graduation, service commit
ments range from four to six years. Pilots,
because of the expense of their training,
about $250,000, are required to serve
longer than most other officers, Kuncl
said.
Becoming an officer in the Marines
is a difficult task, said Capt. Dave Kirk
wood, officer selection officer for the
U.S. Marine Corps.
Prospective officers must have com-
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pleted four years of full-time college with
at least a 2.0 grade point average,
Kirkwood said, and must have gotten a
combined SAT score of 1,000 or at least
45 on the math and english portions of
the ACT. If they don't meet these criteria,
they must take the Armed Forces Vocat
ional Aptitude Battery Test.
After passing a physical, candidates
attend the 10-week officer candidate
school in Quantico, Va.
There has not been a dramatic increase
in the number of applicants during the
course of the last few years, Kirkwood
said. Most of the people who want to be
Marines sign up simply because they want
to be Marines, he said.
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ORDE
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BESIDES NOV. 30 & DEC 1, 10 am- 4 pm AT
SUPPLY STORE
CITY CAMPUS
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