Category | Arts & Living

ROTC prepares cadets for life, military service

Published on March 31, 2009 by Heather Cook

The ROTC program is constantly growing. It provides students with the leadership and experience needed to not only be a part of the United States Army, but also for life. The ultimate goal of ROTC is to create students who will eventually become second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. On May 12, the program will commission six cadets to the second lieutenant rank.

Ryne Asher, a Gold Bar Recruiter and the Lieutenant to KSU’s Cadets, said, “ROTC teaches you all the basic leadership skills that you will need in order to make the transition from college student to a second lieutenant in the Army. You will take academic classes to learn the basic principles and participate in leadership labs here on campus to put those principles into practice. Also, one weekend a semester the cadets go on a Field Training Exercise to further hone the skills they have learned.”

“[ROTC] helps prepare students for their lives as members of the U.S. Armed Forces and possibly in all aspects of life,” said Keaton Loper, a sophomore majoring in physical therapy.

ROTC also can help students pay for part or all of their college tuition. “ROTC offers full ride scholarships that work in conjunction with the HOPE scholarship,” Asher said. “It pays either your full tuition and fees or pays $5000 a semester for room and board. After you graduate, the Army offers seventeen different job fields to go into, ranging from Aviation, to the Nurse Corps to the Signal Corps. The starting salary for a brand new second lieutenant is $47,000. Also you earn a monthly stipend ranging from $300–$500 a month.”

Students who do not have any military experience, have not taken any ROTC courses, and are not juniors, can attend a four-week camp located in Fort Knox, Ky. This Leadership Training Camp allows students to be ready to take the advanced course their junior year. The advanced course prepares cadets for the Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC).

During the advanced course (which occurs during the last two years of a cadet’s university time), cadets learn about different components of the army, such as knowledge of weapons, human behavior and chemical, nuclear, and biochemical warfare. The LDAC teaches cadets leadership skills, as the name suggests. A cadet should be able to lead a group across treacherous terrain or through situations that call for decisive measures.

ROTC not only teaches cadets army and leadership skills, but it also flourishes friendships that can last for life. “The best thing about KSU’s ROTC Program is the friendships and camaraderie that the program builds,” Asher said. “In many ways it is like being in a fraternity. The cadets often do fundraising events to raise money for events like our annual Military Ball which was held in the Piedmont Room of Park Tavern in downtown Atlanta this year.”