Conservative Student News

Get into the best physical shape of your life? Find some of the best friends one could ever imagine? Have a guaranteed and possibly considerably well-paying job after college graduation?

If someone would have told me, only a year ago, that any of these things were possible, I would have laughed in disbelief. Opportunities this good just cannot be true; It’s simply impossible. However, here I stand today, living out that “too good to be true” life.

I am sure you have all heard of the ROTC program here at St. Thomas. For those of you who do not know exactly what ROTC is, it stands for “Reserve Officer Training Corps.” It is a training program, which the United States Armed Forces presents on college campuses, to train and educate future commissioned officers of the Military. ROTC allows you to attend college and train for a career in the Military at the same time. When you graduate with your college degree, you will also commission as an officer.

If you have ever had an 8:00 a.m. class at St. Thomas, you most certainly have passed an Air Force ROTC cadet that has just finished a morning workout session. You may have also noticed the Air Force cadets walking about campus in their dress uniform every Monday.

Discovering that such opportunities exist makes you start to think about what direction you want to take your life. However, what if you want to join the Military, but the Air Force is not for you? I joined the Army Reserves in high school. I plan to stay in the Army. When I first came to St. Thomas and discovered that the only ROTC program on campus was the Air Force, I was immensely disappointed.

To my surprise and delight, I soon discovered the Gopher Battalion at the University of Minnesota, which offers ROTC to all branches of the Military, including the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Army! Even better, I did not have to attend the U of M to participate in the ROTC program. The Gopher Battalion has an agreement with many surrounding universities that allows the students of these institutions to join their program, while attending the college of their choice. Many students from colleges such as St. Thomas, St. Catherine, Bethel, White Bear Lake, and Metro State have taken advantage of this wonderful opportunity to commute to the U of M and participate in the ROTC program.

This year there are currently 13 cadets in the Army ROTC program who attend St. Thomas, and four of these are freshman. Ten of these students are presently contracted and on scholarships (myself included). These scholarships vary between Active Duty, National Guard, and Army Reserves. They cover full tuition, including books and all miscellaneous fees. If that were not enough, St. Thomas also pays the room, board, and meal plans for scholarship recipients.

On top of attending St. Thomas, free from any financial costs, cadets on scholarship also receive a monthly stipend to put in their pocket and spend on whatever they choose. The stipend varies depending upon your current academic year.

Besides the undeniable financial benefits one receives from participating in ROTC, the skills and knowledge gained throughout the program play a major role in what makes ROTC so desirable. I can honestly say that I would participate in ROTC even if they did not give me any financial help. In fact, I would pay a great deal of money to be a part of this institution, for there is nowhere else in this world that you can gain such experience, as well as receive a wonderful education at such a young age. The fact that I am paid to have the opportunity to do some of the things I have done through ROTC amazes me every day.

From learning basic skills such as land navigation, firing and qualifying with an M16, repelling off a tower, water survival, and gaining proficiency in many other areas, I feel as if I have gained competency and knowledge in the past year that others may never obtain in their whole lifetime.

Besides offering skills and knowledge to cadets, ROTC holds a promising future to those that commission as an officer. No matter what your goals or interests are in life, I have found that the United States Army has something to offer you. A frequent misconception of the Military is that it is all combat and infantry. This is incorrect.

Upon commissioning, one is able to choose between many different branches, including: Nurses Corps, Air Defense Artillery, Armor, Aviation, Engineer, Chemical, Military Intelligence, Military Police, Signal, Finance, Personnel Systems Management, Quartermaster, Civil Affairs, Chaplain, and Transportation. How many people do you know, who can say as a freshman in college, they have a guaranteed job after graduation? The sky is the limit with ROTC, for not only do you have a guaranteed job, but you have job offers in pretty much any place in the United States and any country you may choose.

So why are there only 13 students at St. Thomas jumping to take advantage of the chance to attend college completely void of any cost while earning money at the same time? In my opinion, one of the most common reasons why people do not join ROTC is because there is the assumption that you must have had some Military experience in order to join. This is completely false.

Many of the cadets at the Gopher Battalion had no connection to the Military before they joined ROTC. Nine of the 13 cadets from St. Thomas have had no affiliation with the Army until they walked into the ROTC training facility at the U of M. You will not be alone joining this program with absolutely no knowledge about the Army, for many cadets will be in your shoes, walking right alongside you. The goal of the cadre at the ROTC program is to provide you with all the knowledge you need to succeed and they are very eager to work with those cadets that are inexperienced. The atmosphere of Army ROTC is like that of a family and the cadets here are more than happy to welcome a new member in.

Now is the time to act if you have ever considered a career in the Military! Scholarship boards will be held in the spring and the Army ROTC is looking for eager students to whom they may give these scholarships.

If you are unsure of whether you want to commit yourself to the Army, there is no need to commit right away. No one is required to contract with ROTC until their junior year of college, so you are able to take a “trial” semester, free of commitment, to help you determine if the Army is something you see in your future. Another thing to consider is that you can jump in during second semester, without having taken ROTC your first semester.

In my freshman year of college, I did not start ROTC until the second semester, yet the cadets welcomed me as if I was there from the beginning. Surprisingly, it was not hard at all to get into the groove of the program. If a semester is even too much of a commitment for you, ROTC welcomes students to sit in on classes throughout the semester or to join us for a morning workout in order to get a taste of what ROTC is like.

Whether you know for sure that you want to join ROTC or even if you have the slightest interest in the program, the Cadre of Army ROTC is happy to talk with you and answer any questions you might have. If you wish to join the program or gain more information on ROTC, you could visit the Army ROTC Gopher Battalion website: http://www1.umn.edu/arotc/.