COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: JROTC/ROTC
Junior ROTC students strive to make the most of selves
Carrie Watters,The Arizona Republic
Aug. 28, 2005
While
American troops overseas witness the hard realities of war, record
numbers of Arizona teenagers are signing up for a glimpse into
soldiers' lives in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.
Last school year, nearly 7,000 Arizona students chose the high school
elective, double the number from just 15 years ago and outpacing the
state's population surge. Around the country, more than a half-million
cadets, freshmen to seniors, are in JROTC programs, most in the Army,
although every military branch has units.
Nearly half of the cadets in the program at least two years will take
the plunge into military life if Defense Department statistics bear out.
For some, military is a family tradition. Others like the discipline and physical challenges.
Tara Backues, a sophomore at Apache Junction High School, said she
likes the opportunities to join activities in the Navy JROTC. Her plans
include the Navy, college and becoming a pediatrician.
"I just want to make the most of myself," Backues said.
The massive expansion in JROTC, billed as a citizenship builder and not
a recruiting tool, is partly the result of a heavy flow of federal
dollars. Funding was $265 million last school year, four times higher
than 15 years ago.
Daily classes, a host of weekend events and summer camps are part of the JROTC experience.
At a camp near Flagstaff this summer, about 250 Arizona teens attended
leadership training that had them rappelling down a cliff, among other
survival training tests.
They rose with the sun at the weeklong camp, navigating a 2 1/2-mile
course with a compass and jumping into a swimming pool fully clothed,
using their clothes for flotation. They munched MREs -
meals-ready-to-eat - rather than typical teen fare of french fries or
frappuccinos. One teen insisted that the chemically heated meatloaf
eaten out of a bag tasted great.
The discipline is apparent: Put 250 teens into a typical high school
cafeteria, and it's controlled chaos. At dinner, these 250 JROTC cadets
stood in the chow line with caps in hand, not uttering a word.
Their instructors, most retired military men, are addressed as "sir."
Program growth
The JROTC program ballooned after then-Gen. Colin Powell called for
more funding in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The expansion,
particularly in inner-city schools, was an alternative to drug use and
gangs, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon
spokeswoman.
Military fact sheets note that the program improves graduation rates,
reduces drug use and improves self-esteem, although independent
research is scarce.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-profit
research group in Washington, D.C., issued a study in 1999 in support
of expanding JROTC, although researcher William Taylor found that
results can vary.
Some JROTC cadets missed less school and some did not. In Chicago, the
study showed JROTC participants were no more likely to graduate than
the typical student. JROTC units in a Washington, D.C., school did show
lower dropout rates among cadets.
Taylor, a senior adviser with the center, said JROTC is not the "be all
end all," but the educators he surveyed "think the program walks on
water."
He added: "It does have something to do with the red, white and blue, but there's nothing wrong with that."
Program critics
But JROTC has its critics. A 1992 study sponsored by the American
Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia challenged claims such as
improved graduation rates and criticized a curriculum the group sees as
pro-military.
"It's not U.S. history. It's military history. It moves from one war to
the next," said Oskar Castro of the National Youth and Militarism
Program, a branch of the Friends Committee, a Quaker organization.
Castro advises parents to look at their child's textbook.
"Young people are being indoctrinated, and the military is the sacred cow," he said.
Stan Hemry, another critic, works with the Arizona Counter-Recruitment
Coalition, a small Phoenix-based group, and calls the curriculum one of
death.
"They're going after the most vulnerable: those who feel they can't go
to school without some assistance," said Hemry, of Carefree.
"Some of them are going to come back in body bags and coffins."
He and other volunteers pass out fliers outside schools where they say Uncle Sam targets poorer and minority students.
In Arizona JROTC units, minority students are slightly overrepresented,
making up 51 percent of public school enrollment but about 54 percent
of enrollment in JROTC.
Popular with schools
Despite the program's critics, many parents and administrators praise it.
Chandler High School Principal Terry Williams said he had to wait three
years to get an Air Force JROTC program after the previous unit
transferred to Hamilton High School when it opened seven years ago.
The district's third high school, Basha High School, still waits for a unit.
Williams said the program builds citizenship, like cadets raising the
flag each morning in front of the school, and respect, with cadets
going so far as to stand when he enters as if he were commander in
chief.
"It's not about prepping them for military life, it's prepping them for
life," said Vyron McCraw, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant
who teaches JROTC classes at Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix.
McCraw teaches students about military protocol like how to salute and
care for a uniform. Cadets in every unit wear their uniforms to school
once a week. He also teaches leadership and the history of flight.
Three weekends a month, his students plan activities like trips to Pima
Air Force Museum or community service. McCraw said the program offers
something different that just might keep students coming to school.
Parent Jeanette Davis encouraged son Nick Pierce to take advantage of
the Navy JROTC at Moon Valley High School in Phoenix. If Pierce opts to
eventually enlist in the military, Davis supports that, too. "By taking
this, he will know what he's getting into," Davis said.
For Pierce, 16, the discipline and drill team was the clincher.
Pierce, who said his dad was in the Army, said he was drawn to the
clear chain of command. He began as a seaman recruit, or as he said,
"Nothing."
Achieving his goals
Today, he is a chief petty officer. "There's a goal I can achieve," he said.
Pierce knew he would enter the JROTC program when he was still in
middle school. There, he saw the synchronized order of a JROTC drill
team perform. He loved it. He's been a member of the team for three
years, learning how to spin a gun in the air and toss it between his
team members.
The JROTC program may be as close to military life as the teen can get because of asthma.
As Pierce hiked to the top of the cliff to rappel, 17-year-old Patricia Pacheco came down, exuding confidence.
She's a four-year Air Force JROTC cadet at Tucson's Catalina High
School with plans to enter the Air Force Reserves and, eventually, law
enforcement.
The teen looks people in the eyes when talking about straightening out
her life. "Things aren't going to get better unless I get out there and
achieve my goals," she said.
Pacheco is like a military advertisement, not blinking at the
challenges of military life. She talks of wearing her uniform to school
with pride.
"Not just anyone has the guts to get out there and do it; to take charge of my life at this young of an age," Pacheco said.
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