|
news
ROTC readies for
training, possibly war
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
The American flag
flies proudly everywhere you turn -- on cars, outside front
doors, hung over windows and even pinned on clothing.
The flag is a unifying
emblem used nationwide to represent freedom, to remember those
innocent victims lost during the terrorist attacks and to
honor the U.S. soldiers who have been deployed to defend the
country.
At Cal State Long
Beach, the students who comprise the Army ROTC, or Reserve
Officers' Training Corps, train diligently every semester
in preparation to someday serve the United States as leaders
and uphold the principles the flag symbolizes.
"All of our
programs are designed to train future leaders," said
Maj. Andy Flynn, who is a recruiting operations officer for
the Army ROTC. "Almost all lieutenants will be some type
of platoon leader. They will be responsible for leading, equipping,
training and managing approximately 40 soldiers and will be
assisted by non-commissioned officers in that task. Primarily,
that is what we are trying to culminate our training in."
Among the 270 schools
involved in the ROTC program, CSULB is one of 810 partnership
schools. The ROTC program at the University of Southern California
is the host, while the CSULB program, which started about
15 years ago, is an affiliate and falls beneath the umbrella
of USC's title, according to Flynn.
Today, the CSULB
program has grown to attract approximately 38 men and women,
some of whom are students at UC Irvine and Cal State Dominguez
Hills, 2nd Lt. Richard Raphael said. The interest in ROTC
has risen considerably, especially since the recent terrorism
acts.
"There has
been an increase in phone calls as far as the recruiting station
gets," said Raphael, who is an ROTC Gold Bar recruiter.
"People are interested."
Also, ROTC members
must meet certain criteria to be admitted into the program,
such as being enrolled in a four-year university, having at
least two years of school left and being seriously motivated
to earning a degree, according to Raphael.
"The bottom
line is you need a degree if you want to be an officer,"
Raphael said.
Each student in
ROTC is classified as either a scholarship or non-scholarship
cadet.
For scholarship
cadets, the Army pays for the students' tuition, books, fees,
and provides a stipend. The non-scholarship cadets receive
a stipend of $300 and $350 during their junior and senior
years, respectively, for each month that they are attending
school, which is about 10 months at CSULB, Flynn said.
In addition, despite
President Bush's order to deploy U.S. troops, the ROTC cadets
will not be required to serve as active officers, unless students
are concurrently enlisted in the Army Reserves or the Army
National Guard, according to Flynn.
"All of our
active-duty scholarship cadets and non-scholarship contracted
cadets are exempt and will not be subjected to mobilization,"
Flynn said. "But the cadets in our program who are non-contracted
and belong simultaneously to the Army National Guard an Army
Reserves could be deployed."
However, after
graduation, the ROTC cadets will become Army officers and
will have to be placed onto active military status.
Typically, active-duty
scholarship recipients are required to serve four years in
the Army, while the non-scholarship recruits, depending upon
which branch or profession they have chosen to pursue, will
serve a minimum of three years, Flynn said.
To condition the
cadets for their advanced physical training, which is a five-week
camp during their junior or senior year, and for future military
service, they must endure a field training exercise each semester.
The three-day exercise
will be conducted this weekend at Fort Hunter Liggett, located
about 35 miles north of Paso Robles.
"What we'll
be doing primarily is basic rifle marksmanship by firing M-16
rifles, land navigation both day and night, a confidence course,
an obstacle course and repelling off a 60-foot tower, sliding
down with a rope," Flynn said.
"[The exercise]
is a confidence builder, and it's not that difficult because
we do a lot of good pre-training," he said. "During
this previous week, our leadership laboratories and our classroom
work have been focused around our preparing to make for a
successful weekend."
The work ethic
needed for the field exercise reflects the commitment and
dedication of the cadets to the ROTC program as a whole and
to their future service to the country.
"I'm excited
[about the exercise]," said Cadet Chris Fisher, a junior
communications major who grew up on bases while his father
served in the Army.
"This is the
kind of program where you have to want to be here. Some parts
of it are not going to be fun, like land navigation where
there's a lot of walking and it'll be hot in the day and cold
at night. But they are skills you need to know for the job
going to have to do.
"This program
and its instructors are teaching us everything we need to
know [for the future]," Fisher said. "They have
years and years of training and experience and we couldn't
have better teachers than the ones we have right now."
|
