Aside from sitting next to a uniformed cadet in class or passing by somber recruitment posters, most students are not familiar with the inner workings of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
To shed some light on the matter, cadets Dylan Christopher, senior, and his “soup sandwich” of a roommate Tyler Hardman, junior, agreed to talk to The Chimes about their experiences with the program.
“I feel like people are afraid to ask questions, but believe it or not, there are a lot of really nice people in ROTC,” said Christopher. “We’re willing to answer questions anyone has, and we’re actually really fun.”
An explanation of the “fun” followed.
According to Christopher, an average week for a ROTC cadet entails psychical training (PT) at 5:45 a.m. three days a week, classes throughout the week, and mandatory leadership labs on Fridays. Lab activities range from land navigation on Three Peaks Park to PowerPoints on profession of arms or anti-terrorism to map reading.
The biggest misconception about ROTC is that basic training is required, said Hardman.
He explained that after the first year, cadets are only required to attend Initial Entry Training (IET), a four-week camp that teaches you basic military protocol and tactics.
After junior year comes Cadet Summer Training (CST), a culmination of what students learned for the past three years. Here, cadets receive national rankings.
But let’s backtrack and talk about how Hardman and Christopher came to be called cadets.
As 18-year-olds fresh out of high school, the two initially questioned whether to pursue higher education or to directly enlist into the military. Christopher explained that Capital’s Army ROTC program, where one could learn to become a leader in a close knit liberal arts campus, sounded enticing.
On the topic of camaraderie, this year’s senior ROTC class of six is extremely close knit, said Christopher, making it a bittersweet moment for the soon-to-be-officer.
Come May, Christopher will be stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east of Dayton, as a Transportation Officer in the Army Reserves. Once there, he must find a civilian job.
As for Hardman, he hopes to join the National Guard and move to Washington D.C. Once there, he plans on eventually becoming a firefighter and living with his brother, a police officer in the area.
Reminiscing on his favorite memories, Christopher said he enjoyed Field Training Exercises (FTX), where the entire program travels to a real army base and trains in obstacle courses, land navigation, and shooting ranges.
“We get to live in crappy beds and eat crappy self-heating meals preserved to last for 10 years,” said Christopher. “You eat spaghetti made in 2008, but we’re all embracing the suck together.”
The two were apt to use acronyms and slogans like “embrace the suck” and “too easy.”
“Usually when someone’s uniform is messed up, or they don’t know what they’re talking about and are being ridiculous, we call them ‘soup sandwich,’” said Hardman. “I know it doesn’t make sense.”
Hardman said he most enjoyed going to Greece for a month last summer, where he trained with the Greek military academy through a program called CULP (The Cultural Understanding & Language Proficiency Program).
“I got to sleep in a really crappy, not-waterproof tent at the base of Mt. Olympus looking across the Mediterranean Sea,” said Hardman. “…And there was a little puppy that followed me around everywhere.”
Both cadets said balancing schoolwork, a social life, and ROTC is not too difficult.
“I always put ROTC as a priority only because it was definitely going to guide me past school. But [the program] does a good job of helping you balance things,” said Christopher. “But, sometimes I become bored with the school environment. I think that I could be doing something related to my chosen field, especially when you hear what’s going on in the news.”
Students have the option of trying out a semester with ROTC—no strings attached.
Hardman said scholarships are plentiful for STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) students; however, all contracted cadets are given a stipend so that they do not have to deal with the extra pressures a part-time job brings.
