Fri 21 Dec 2007
STUDENT SOLDIERS: ROTC Recruiting at IU
On a crisp autumn evening in late November, Army Lt. Col. Eric Arnold slowly walks the drill field, keeping a brisk pace on his cell phone and an occasional eye on his battalion of cadets. With the sun low in the sky, the cadets rotate through a series of battlefield exercises, clad in Army fatigues and carrying dummy M-16s.
Arnold lets his senior cadets run the show. He and the other instructors linger on the edge of the field and drift periodically throughout the battalion. For two hours once a week, older cadets walk younger ones through a dress rehearsal for war. They spit tobacco and keep the atmosphere light. The mood is calm and quiet and relaxed on the field; there is no red-faced Full Metal Jacket style drill sergeant screaming orders and breaking spirits. As one company officer said, “this isn’t the old Army.” Arnold and the other instructors joke and swap stories on the sidelines. Talk is of newborn babies, college soccer, and time served in Bosnia.
The young people gathered at this cross country track east of the Indiana University campus represent the future of Army leadership. They are the young men and women of Bison Battalion, many of whom will one day lead other young soldiers into harm’s way. The cadets are college students enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), an avenue to officership in the armed forces. Each branch of the armed forces also operates an officer training school, which typically allow enrollees to become commissioned officers after several months of instruction.
While war continues in Iraq and Afghanistan and debate rages at home, military recruiting has suffered nationwide. Across the country, the armed forces are having trouble enlisting well-qualified young men and women. Increasingly desperate for new soldiers, the Army has granted a record number of waivers to recruits with criminal histories. One in five Army recruits this year never finished high school. ROTC programs on many college campuses are falling short of their graduation goals. But at Indiana University, the Army ROTC program is alive and well.
While the armed services have had increasing difficulty meeting recruiting goals since the Iraq war began in March 2003, the Army ROTC program also saw a decline in enrollment in the years after the war began. Arnold said that trend has begun reversing itself, with a rise in ROTC enrollment back to the pre-war numbers. And throughout the years of the war, the ROTC branch at IU has remained steady with around 100 cadets enrolled each year.
Cadets know that in a time of war there is a strong likelihood that they will see action. Yet for most cadets, that doesn’t seem to be a concern. Junior fine arts major Daniel Hankins said that the war in Iraq “didn’t really have any bearing at all” on his decision to enroll in the ROTC program, because he was going to join ROTC regardless of the war. He said that most cadets share his view that war comes with the territory for a prospective Army officer. “Ask anybody around here,” Hankins said. “It’s just another part of life.”
Tinius said that the ROTC recruiters are up front about the realities that cadets will likely spend time in a war zone. He said that most cadets are well aware of the obligations that come with military service. “We’re successful at being able to commission [officers] in spite of an unpopular war,” Tinius said.
Arnold, who is also professor of military science at IU, said that because of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the typical student enrolled in ROTC has changed.
Capt. Jason Brady, assistant professor of military science at IU, graduated from IU in 1996. He was in the ROTC program during his undergraduate years and said that today’s ROTC is different than the one he knew a decade ago.
Arnold lets his senior cadets run the show. He and the other instructors linger on the edge of the field and drift periodically throughout the battalion. For two hours once a week, older cadets walk younger ones through a dress rehearsal for war. They spit tobacco and keep the atmosphere light. The mood is calm and quiet and relaxed on the field; there is no red-faced Full Metal Jacket style drill sergeant screaming orders and breaking spirits. As one company officer said, “this isn’t the old Army.” Arnold and the other instructors joke and swap stories on the sidelines. Talk is of newborn babies, college soccer, and time served in Bosnia.
The young people gathered at this cross country track east of the Indiana University campus represent the future of Army leadership. They are the young men and women of Bison Battalion, many of whom will one day lead other young soldiers into harm’s way. The cadets are college students enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), an avenue to officership in the armed forces. Each branch of the armed forces also operates an officer training school, which typically allow enrollees to become commissioned officers after several months of instruction.
The ROTC is one of a handful of training programs for military officers. The Army, Navy, and Air Force operate ROTC programs, and the major U.S. military academies also train officers to serve in the armed forces. Students enrolled in the Army ROTC programs are known as cadets until they graduate, when most will be commissioned as second lieutenants. All receive some sort of financial aid package. Cadets in the ROTC program agree to serve four years on active duty once they finish college, or six years as reserves.
Bucking a National Trend
While war continues in Iraq and Afghanistan and debate rages at home, military recruiting has suffered nationwide. Across the country, the armed forces are having trouble enlisting well-qualified young men and women. Increasingly desperate for new soldiers, the Army has granted a record number of waivers to recruits with criminal histories. One in five Army recruits this year never finished high school. ROTC programs on many college campuses are falling short of their graduation goals. But at Indiana University, the Army ROTC program is alive and well.
While the armed services have had increasing difficulty meeting recruiting goals since the Iraq war began in March 2003, the Army ROTC program also saw a decline in enrollment in the years after the war began. Arnold said that trend has begun reversing itself, with a rise in ROTC enrollment back to the pre-war numbers. And throughout the years of the war, the ROTC branch at IU has remained steady with around 100 cadets enrolled each year.
Maj. Todd Tinius is in charge of recruiting for the ROTC program at IU. While he said that “it would be a lie to say the war has no impact on recruiting efforts,” he added that the ROTC program at IU has been successful in meeting its recruiting and graduation goals in the years since Sept. 11.
AUDIO SLIDE SHOW: click on the photo to see an audio slide show of Major Todd Tinius talking about his efforts as director of recruiting for IU ROTC during wartime (pops in new window)
Tinius estimates that only around a quarter of all ROTC programs nationwide are able to meet their annual officer commission goals, which are set by the Defense Department. These goals define the number of ready-for-duty officers that each program is expected to produce in a year. The target for the IU ROTC program in 2008 is to graduate 14 officers; Tinius anticipates that 19 cadets will graduate from the program this coming spring.
The Reality of Military Life
Cadets know that in a time of war there is a strong likelihood that they will see action. Yet for most cadets, that doesn’t seem to be a concern. Junior fine arts major Daniel Hankins said that the war in Iraq “didn’t really have any bearing at all” on his decision to enroll in the ROTC program, because he was going to join ROTC regardless of the war. He said that most cadets share his view that war comes with the territory for a prospective Army officer. “Ask anybody around here,” Hankins said. “It’s just another part of life.”
Tinius said that the ROTC recruiters are up front about the realities that cadets will likely spend time in a war zone. He said that most cadets are well aware of the obligations that come with military service. “We’re successful at being able to commission [officers] in spite of an unpopular war,” Tinius said.
“Physically, they’re stronger than we were,” Arnold said. He enrolled in ROTC in 1987, while he was a student at James Madison University. Back then, many students joined the Cold War-era Army ROTC with the expectation of whiling away their service time drinking beer on bases fronting the Iron Curtain. Now, the cadets are different. “They’re more focused,” Arnold said. “War will do that. You’ve really got to want it, because you’re going to serve in combat.”
Capt. Jason Brady, assistant professor of military science at IU, graduated from IU in 1996. He was in the ROTC program during his undergraduate years and said that today’s ROTC is different than the one he knew a decade ago.
“The focus has definitely changed,” Brady said. Physical fitness is stressed more than in the past, with today’s cadets expected to meet for physical training three times a week at six in the morning. Classroom time has also increased, with a concentration on leadership skills.
Motivating Factors
Motivating Factors
Junior general studies major Brett Kirby joined ROTC to become a better leader. As an enlisted man with the Fourth Infantry in Iraq, he said that he saw first hand the need for officers to be both strong leaders and good soldiers. “If you have one person that is not a good soldier,” Kirby said, “even though he may be in charge, he sets the wrong example.”
Kirby initially enlisted in the Army during high school when he said he was looking for structure, direction, and security with the military. And, as he puts it matter-of-factly, “it’s a four-year job that it’s almost impossible to get fired from.”
Many of the cadets in the ROTC program at Indiana University cite the same set of factors drawing them into life in the military — patriotism, family who served in the military, the promise of steady work, and the discipline and leadership skills that they expect from the Army. And then there’s the money.
The ROTC scholarships can provide nearly $100,000 of financial aid to students over the course of their undergraduate education. But the money isn’t always a primary concern. “I have many cadets from extremely wealthy families,” Arnold said. “The financial concern for most cadets is secondary.” He said that many ROTC cadets enroll in the program because of an interest in serving their country and tasting the life of adventure that many young people expect from the Army, regardless of whether or not they expect to go to war.
Joining Up Despite the “Influencers”
Parents and other adults with sway over young people have tended to view military service with increasing skepticism. Army recruiters infamously have referred to this potentially threatening cadre of concerned parents, teachers, coaches and other mentors as “influencers,” an obstacle that has collectively presented a challenge to recruiters nationwide. They’re a group that has become increasingly vocal during wartime. Arnold said that with potential cadet recruits, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a consideration, “but more often than not it’s their parents that are most concerned.”
Back on the practice field, the younger cadets sit on the cold turf in small groups, listening to the upper class cadets explain how to operate as officers under enemy fire. For now, the cadets of Bison Battalion are still students first, with the reality of active duty military life at least a few years away. In another week they’ll be dismissed for winter break, with ample free time to spend with friends and influencers alike.
Related:
- For their overall active-duty force, the Army had targeted 80,000 new recruits for the fiscal year 2007, which ended on Sept. 30. As the largest branch of the military, the Army is expected to recruit the largest number of new soldiers each year — an incoming group that is equal to nearly half the size of the entire Marine Corps. You can find a complete list of military recruiting numbers for 2007 here.
- More recruits are entering the armed forces without a high school diploma, and 18 percent of recruits last year needed a waiver for past criminal activity.
- Although the Army target was 90 percent of new recruits with high school diplomas, only 79 percent of newly enlisted soldiers during 2007 had graduated from high school.
- Junior military reserve programs (JROTC) have expanded across the nation. In Chicago public schools, about 1,800 students attend school at five public military-style academies.
- Amidst much debate, A JROTC program at a public high school in San Francisco is being terminated after a 90-year run.