Being all that they can be: A look inside ROTC
Laura Breslin
Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
On a Thursday afternoon, as the average student is preparing for the start of the Vanderbilt weekend and a night down on Second Avenue, they are standing in formation, uniformly dressed. They are preparing not just for the drills of their sergeant, but for their future as leaders, officers. This Thursday, their shoes were shined, their pants pressed, perfectly dressed to pass inspection. While some students ponder their majors and minors as if their course of study is the most major decision in their relative life, these students on this Thursday afternoon have committed themselves to something that extends beyond their four years at Vanderbilt. Their collegiate years are in service of more than just their studies and themselves, they are serving the interests of some 296 million Americans as well.
They are the students in the ROTC program, an acronym which stands for Reserve Officers Training Corps. While the participants in the program are recognizable by their uniforms, haircuts, and commitments, seldom do people uninvolved in ROTC understand what exactly the program is, expect that those in it will have to serve in the military after graduation. The ROTC program began in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Defense Act; students had been received military training at colleges prior to the enactment of this act, yet the National Defense Act systematized and unified collegiate military training with the provision of federal funding for the program. The first ROTC class graduated in 1920, when 133 men received their commissions. Women were admitted to the program for the first time in 1972, and typically comprise 20 percent of all participants.
Unlike a major, the academic side of the ROTC program consists of a series of electives that students take in addition to their normal courses. At Vanderbilt, these courses fall into the category of Military Science, and are classes such as Foundations of Officership and Leadership and Teamwork. The students dressed in military garb on Thursday afternoons are actually taking part in what are officially referred to as the Leadership Labs, which are a part of their training coursework. The labs are planned by the seniors in the program and directed by juniors. Field and physical training are also required components of the ROTC program, as well as "boot camp,"-indoctrination as it is officially called-in the summer prior to freshman year. There are also ROTC extracurricular activities, such as intramural sports and social events. Although many a Vandy girl aspires to be asked to a fraternity semi-formal, dinner and drinks with a frat boy in a nice suit pales in comparison to being escorted to the more regal Military or Navy Ball with a date dressed in his formal uniform.