Perspective: Student Soldiers

"When we attacked, we were focused on one thing: destroying the enemy. If it had an Iraqi uniform, if it was a piece of equipment, it was annihilated."

Retired Lt. Col. Scott Rutter stands in front of a slideshow displaying images of tanks, guns and war-torn fields, speaking animatedly about his unit's operations in Iraq. As part of the Third Infantry Division, he spearheaded the attack on Baghdad.

At roughly 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium build and silver hair, Rutter is not the most imposing of men. Yet he speaks with a fiery energy, celebrating the righteousness of the war and the greatness of the soldiers with whom he served. He also stands as a testament to his rapt audience of Reserve Officers Training Corps students, as he too is a product of the ROTC program.

While most college undergraduates primarily pursue good grades in hopes of embarking on a successful career, others choose a tougher, more disciplined and quite possibly dangerous life in the ranks of the ROTC.

Why trade the relative comfort and direction of the standard college path for an occupation that could land you in such vacation spots as Baghdad? The reasons are as varied as the students themselves.

"Service to country," is Wharton junior and Army ROTC student David Copley's immediate answer.

Some say they are impressed by the nobility and sacrifice the Armed Forces demands.

"I [visited] a military academy in Indiana, and there were a lot of Marines," Wharton senior and Marines ROTC student Pedro Ortiz says. "They had high standards; they had a sense of pride."

Consequently, Ortiz applied for a Marine scholarship.

Others believe that service can provide useful experience and knowledge to jumpstart their civilian professions. "It would give me a good start on my career," says School of Nursing sophomore Noelle Dove, a Navy ROTC student on a Navy Nursing scholarship. "Right when I get out of my school, I know what I'm going to be doing."

Navy ROTC student Charlyn Ho, a sophomore in the Huntsman program, says one of her reasons for joining was the "great opportunity for leadership, a great experience for business ... it gives a great sense of discipline."

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Former ROTC students can attest to the effectiveness of the program. Second Lt. Piers Platt, a 2002 Penn graduate, was in the Army ROTC for four years. Now a tank platoon leader, he will be heading to Iraq in a few months.

"I learned a great deal during my ROTC training," Platt says. "It is an intense and challenging experience that I felt helped me mature and grow."

Demonstrating the unpredictability of service placements, he notes that being ordered to Iraq came as a surprise.

In college he believed he "was headed to a rear-echelon job, and thus didn't think much about heading to a combat zone."

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The ROTC program provides enrolled students military and leadership training. While ROTC has branches for all three elements of the Armed Forces -- Army, Navy and Air Force -- Penn only offers the Navy program.

Saint Joseph's University has the Air Force branch, while Drexel University runs the Army ROTC program, known as Taskforce Dragon.

According to Buck Buchanan, the Penn ROTC executive officer, since all three institutions are geographically close together, having more than one ROTC branch at one school would be a waste of resources. Instead, students are free to apply to whichever program they wish, regardless of their school. Currently, there are 44 Penn students in the Navy, 20 in the Army and only one in the Air Force.

After graduating from a university, cadets enter their respective branches with higher status than the average enlistee, and must serve for eight years: four years active service and four years on the reserve lists.

ROTC applicants have to pass a thorough physical examination and need reasonable high school grades to enter the program. Once enrolled, they have to keep their grades above a 2.5 GPA to remain. Most Penn ROTC students are on the fully paid four-year scholarship that the programs offers its participants.

The demands of the program itself are, quite simply, grueling. Most college students find the concept of waking up at the crack of dawn terrifying. A 9 o'clock class presents enough of an ordeal, but those in the ROTC have to perform taxing exercise first thing in the morning.

"It's very challenging," Ho says. "I'm on an opposite schedule to most students. I wake up at 5:30 a.m., when some go to bed."

Ho has to rise that early for the physical training that begins around 6 a.m. two days a week. Marines have an even tougher program with an extra day of workouts. Students must also participate in labs on drilling, ceremony and military jargon and formalities. These labs often feature guest speakers -- current and retired officers -- giving the students a taste of the reality of life in the Armed Forces. Finally, students enroll in special classes on military skills such as navigation, weapon assembly and leadership. In keeping with the early bird theme, these classes run at 7:30 a.m. for the Navy and 6 a.m. for the Army twice a week.

While the courses are taught by Army and Naval officers --who are members of the University faculty -- the physical training and labs are run by the more experienced upperclassmen, who occasionally find their leadership role awkward.

"The most challenging part is the leadership challenge, leading your peers," Army ROTC and College junior Brian Drohan says. He notes that his life in the ROTC, in which he gives orders to other cadets, could be incongruent with his college life, in which these cadets are his friends. "You kind of have to live in two worlds," he says.

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Of course, ROTC students have to balance this demanding regimen with the tough academic challenge of a top university and somehow still manage to have a social life. It comes as no surprise that occasional feelings of exasperation emerge.

"It can be a pain when you have to get up early ... you wonder how beneficial this stuff is," College sophomore and Navy ROTC student Lura Pardue says. "It's real time-consuming ... and you don't get credit" for all the classes.

Yet students bear this burden stoically, accepting it as part of the payment for their education, even if they are left with little time to pursue other extracurricular activities.

"Essentially, I'm getting paid to be a student," Ortiz says. "It's not a club that I joined, it's my job. Sometimes I have to juggle requirements and that's not easy."

Students find the overall experience worthwhile, though, citing bonding with their colleagues and learning skills that would be applicable outside the Armed Forces as perks of ROTC.

"I enjoy the camaraderie," Pardue says.

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Several ROTC students have a family history of military service. Both of Copley's grandfathers were in the British military.

Drohan says he "grew up in the military" and his father is still in the Air Force. He further notes that a military officer is "a certain type of person, and I like that type of person."

Yet while some students are from families with military backgrounds, others are the first among their relatives to join the Armed Forces. Ho says she had not heard of the ROTC before coming to Penn.

Regardless of family precedent, the decision to serve their country seems to originate purely from students' own volition. •

The knowledge that they might find themselves thrust into the conflicts they have only read about or seen on TV actually increases students' enthusiasm for the ROTC.

"I'm quite excited, I'm going to be right in the midst of world events," Ho says. "Right now I'm a passive observer."

The breadth and depth of the military classes provide ROTC students with an advantage over the average civilian when following war coverage. To them, the details of an effective troop deployment and the inner workings of an M16 are not just incomprehensible jargon, but realities they understand and may have to face.

"The equipment, weapon and tactics training give you a better perspective," Copley explains. "You know what's going on with the U.S. military."

Enrollment in the ROTC is purely voluntary, and most students agree that conscription should not be introduced in this country, believing a volunteer army has functioned well up to this point.

"It's 100 percent better that we have all-volunteer" forces, Copley says. "People who are frontline infantry -- a dangerous position -- volunteer to be there."

Being in a life-or-death situation is no less intimidating for ROTC students than anyone else; they are hardly gung-ho about the reality of battle, but have mentally prepared themselves for risking their lives in combat.

"Nobody should join the military and not expect that," Drohan notes. "That's something you've got to do."

While in college, students are nondeployable, but that safety net lasts only four years. In their senior year, ROTC students hand in their top 10 choices for duty.

Some attempts may be made to match students' service to their degrees; Dove, for example, will be working as a nurse on a base in Texas. Pardue might work in aviation, perhaps switching to intelligence.

However noble and appealing the tough uniform looks hanging in their dormitory room closet, ROTC students know they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice.

As Copley warns, "The possibility is real that you'll be going straight into a combat zone."

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