ROTC from page 1•i.
While that attitude prevails within ROTC,
much of the outside world perceives ROTC as a
strict program of military indoctrination - a
book-bag boot camp. Some believe that the
minute students walk through the doors of the
Military and Naval Science Building, they must
sign then lives away to four years of hard labor
and polishing Memorial Stadium bathrooms
with a toothbrush.
“If you screw up, you’ll be doing push-ups
and sit-ups for the rest of your life with people in
your face waiting for you to screw up,” said
junior Cadet Logan Veath.
“That’S just not true.”
But it may be true that the perception is caus
ing a drop in enrollment, say some cadets and
the officers in charge of administering the pro
gram.
Nationwide, 33,705 cadets enrolled this year,
which’is less than half of the 73,963 cadets
enrolled in 1971. The Army counts on ROTC to
produce 70 percent of its officers.
According to Cadet Command in Fort
Monroe, Va., national statistics show that the
smaller ROTC classes are still meeting the
demands of a smaller Army. But the demand at
UNL calls for 100 cadets. The 65-member Big
Red Battalion is missing a few godd men and
women.
Part of the shortage may be because the UNL
freshman class is 500 students fewer than last
year; but the cadets and cadre say ignorance and
misinformation also may be to blame for not
enough students joining the program.
Lt. Col. Rik Barrera said some people,
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their views on thp military when they don’t know
| the real skills being taugfif in the program. .
: “Once a weekthey see people walking
around in uniforms,” he said. “They think we
just teach them to shoot weapons.”
While cadets do run around campus before
sunrise and wear their uniforms once a week,
they aren’t casting extras for “Full Metal Jacket.”
Cadets are being trained to be Army officers, but
they are college students first.
Students don’t major in ROTC. No degree
means no commission.
Army 101
At UNL, cadets spend an average of six
hours a week in combined physical training,
classes and labs. They also attend field-training
exercises and formal events throughout the year.
Cadets must maintain a 2.0 GPA in overall
course work and a 3.0 GPA in ROTC classes.
And signing up for an ROTC class is the
same as registering for English 101. Students are
welcome to give it a try for a while without
obligation.
Joining Army ROTC is not like enlisting in
the regular Army, where you’re shipped off to
basic training for a few weeks to become a sol
dier. ROTC spends years training cadets to join
the Army’s higher-ranking contingent of skilled
officers; hence, the Reserve Officer Training
Corp.
The motivation for their training isn’t the
bullet-voiced drill sergeant shouting ATTEN...
TION!
It’s leadership.
And for many students, it’s also a full-tuition
scholarship or guaranteed job after graduation or
both.
It’s that package of incentives that Maj. Greg
Dibella, one of the program’s recruitment offi
cers, has to pull together. Dibella, indistinguish
able from any university professor in his casual
Big Red Battalion red polo shirt, starts the
recruitment push in the spring by targeting cur
rent freshman and sophomore college students
and high school seniors.
“We try to say we’re not recruiters. We’re all
Photos by Sc
assistant professors here,” he said. “We’re not ? :
required to tiring people in, sign them up and VT *
ship them out somewhere.”
Caffcer days and invitations for guest speak
ers can give Amy ROTC recruiters a dhanceiot* ’
answer questions that might clear up the per
ceptions - often caused by regular Army 4
recruiters pushing for students to join the enlist
ed ranks.
Junior Cadet Patrick Sitter said, “For fresh
men coming in here, it’s like joining a sport.
Except here, you’re not going to be redshirted.
You’ll be involved. You’re not gping to be the
‘new guy.’You’re going to travel. You’re going
to have help with your studies.”
You’re going to have fun. The curriculum
for first- and second-year cadets is filled with
activities like rappelling, playing paintball and
challenging a ropes course. Those skills are
combined with what the cadets learn in class.
They are then tested during field-training exer
cises where they can get a taste of the Army -
even when it’s about as tasty as an MRE.
During the simulated-combat weekend in
the forest, those brown food packs stamped
with the generic “Meal Ready-to-Eat” block
lettered label were good enough for senior
Cadet Dawn Lenz. She ripped open her MRE
and reviewed the contents, usually something
mysterious in a smaller brown pouch.
“Cheese and crackers, anyone?”
She ate while waiting for the formation of
younger cadets to come over the hill. She said
the weekend’s exercises are really to train the
MS Ills, who are cadets usually in their third, or
junior year. They arepreparing for next sum
mer’s Advance Camp in Ft. Lewis, Wash.,
where the points they earn there are totaled with
their GPA and ROTC points to determine what
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officers after graduation.
The MS I Vs, or seniors like Lenz, plan the
weekend and are there to supervise, along with
the officer instructors. The MS Us and MS Is
are there to watch, and maybe pick up a few
things.
“They aren’t in the leadership mode,” she
said. “It’s fly by the seat of their pants.
“It’s teaching as you go. There’s a lot of
learning, and this is the best place to learn.
We’re here to mentor, and head them on the
right path.”
And a big part of learning, Lenz said, “is
screwing up.
“Sometimes you think you know every
thing. Then when you’re in a leadership role, you
realize you have to improve.”
A little green
Over the course of four missions for each
cadet squad, the cadets will have a chance to
prove that improvement.
After junior Cadet Albert Salinas finished
leading his squad’s first mission, he wasn’t too
happy that his attempt wasn’t a total success.
“I can’t think of any (strengths), sir,” he told
Capt. Scott Danner. “I think I botched the whole
thing.”
Danner didn’t skimp on positive reinforce
ment.
“Guys, this is very difficult the first time,” he
said. “You guys did a super job ”
Expecting the cadets to come out of seven
weeks of training in classrooms and labs, and
expecting their mission to be seamless, is like
“talking about professional football for five
weeks, bringing in the Dallas Cowboys and
expecting to go up against them.”
Danner passed out Jolly Rancher candies to
all the cadets and sent them off on their next
mission.
Willbanks takes charge. He orders his fellow
cadets to drink enough water. Instruction as sim
ple as that to as difficult as plotting an attack all
require leadership - the ability to persuade peo
i ndy Summers
pie to follow your directions.
Troy Wayman, one of the MS IVs helping
the squad, said one of the first tenets of leader
ship is making a decision.
“Any decision is a good decision,” he said.
“We can teach you the right decision later.”
That type of decision making can be applied
to ROTC in general. Students can decide to sim
ply sign up for military science classes and give
ROTC a try without committing. Only later, usu
ally in their second year, do they need to deter
mine if that’s the right decision. If they do decide
to sign for an obligation to military service, and
then graduate, they will be commissioned as 2nd
lieutenants in the U.S. Army.
Many cadets make that obligation to get an
ROTC scholarship. The $253 million program is
(Hie of the largest scholarship-granting agencies
in the country, Dibella said, and each student
who qualifies is almost guaranteed a four-year,
three-year or two-year scholarship worth $5,000
to $25,000 depending on the cost of the school
he wants to attend. ROTC operates across the
nation at 255 colleges and universities, both pub
lic and private, with 15 cross-enrollment pro
grams.
At UNL, almost half the cadets are on ROTC
schqlarships. They even set a record for four
year scholarships this year, and brought in
$70,500 in tuition and fees overall.
Herb Howe, associate to the chancellor and
the UNL administrator overseeing the ROTC
program, said the ROTC program benefits the
university by bringing in scholarships. And the
r
scholarships can make the programs competitiv
in bringing in the top candidates.
As the professor of military science,
Barrera’s definition of an ideal ROTC candidata
is someone who is between the “4.0 brainiac”
and “super jock.” Someone like a student athleh
perhaps, who realizes the brain also needs to
exercise.
While Barrera cautioned that the ROTC
scholarships should not be seen as a financial
means to an end, for Cadet Jill Backes, that
money was the best recruiter the Army could
have sent. She was facing out-of-state tuition
and needed a way to put herself through college.
While Backes does get a good education out,
of the program, she doesn’t see the money as *e|
only benefit of ROTC. She said her leadership
and management skills also can be applied to a
career in corporate America, or anywhere else
she chooses to work. It won’t be full-time Army,
though.
Instead, Backes will follow the 1,378 cadets
who joined the Army Reserves or National
Guard last year. For eight years, Backes is oblig
ated to spend one weekend a month and two
weeks in the summer with her Reserves unit as
she pursues a career combining psychology and
criminal justice.
About 2,320 cadets chose to go active duty,
which means they are required to serve four
years full time with the regular Army. After that
point, they can take a job in the private sector, ml
they can pursue an Army career in infantry,
armor, military intelligence, ordnance or any on