UW Army ROTC Meets Demands of Post-9/11 World

Dec. 18, 2003 -- The size of the University of Wyoming's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit has nearly doubled since 2001, but the battalion cadre's senior officer says cadets continue to enroll largely for what ROTC has traditionally offered, not out of a desire to fight the war on terrorism.

"We had a couple isolated cases of students inquiring about ROTC because of the groundswell of patriotism following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.," says Lt. Col. Ronald Staver, Cowboy Battalion senior officer. "But students still become cadets for the same reasons they always have: they're looking for leadership training, career opportunities, scholarships and other financial support for college, a little adventure -- or they're just curious about military life."

Staver says the Army is experiencing a boom in recruiting and retention, which the Pentagon's recruiting command attributes to post-9/11 interest in military service. But he adds that such interest is more likely among enlistees in the regular Army ranks.

"ROTC cadet recruits have to have a little longer vision," Staver says. "Someone who wants to see action now may not want to wait the four years it takes to complete an ROTC program."

More than an increased interest in ROTC, Staver says the war on terrorism has heightened cadets' awareness of the potential for active duty. Five students now in the program have been deployed in various capacities in what Staver refers to as "the war," both in overseas combat zones and in homeland defense operations stateside.

"A number of our graduates have been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq," he says, pointing to a bulletin board with photos and letters from some of those former cadets. "Mobilization of Army Reserve and National Guard units for duty in southwest Asia or in homeland security operations has also pulled some of our employees out of this office for several weeks to as many as 18 months at a time, which means that we've had to tighten our belts a little bit. But that's true of ROTC units across the nation."

Capt. Michael Alvis of the Cowboy Battalion cadre is one of those whose National Guard unit was called up earlier this year. Alvis, a veteran of the first Persian Gulf War, is a graduate of the ROTC program at Oregon State University. He says the basic content of ROTC courses has not changed in response to the new demands of the post-9/11 world.

"The main thing we teach in ROTC is leadership," Alvis says. "Cadets learn how to lead others in carrying out orders that are handed down to them. We teach leadership in a number of ways, including classroom instruction, leadership labs, and field training exercises so that the cadets' leadership abilities can be applied in a variety of settings."

Staver says the 14 cadets scheduled to graduate as second lieutenants in the spring all expect to be deployed to southwest Asia almost immediately. Even so, their ROTC training has retained a broad focus to prepare them to perform diverse duties to provide the Army with the flexibility it needs to work anywhere American troops are deployed.

"We want to train well-rounded individuals who can look at the world through many different lenses," Staver says. "A soldier may help build a school, feed hungry kids, and become decisively engaged in an ambush all in one day.

"ROTC has always sought to produce officers prepared to lead under all of those conditions. There's just a bit more urgency about it today because it's likely that our cadets won't have time to get their feet wet gradually. Their skills will be challenged immediately."

Alvis adds that the emphasis on leadership is attracting increasing numbers of students to ROTC.

"ROTC is a great vehicle for learning and for meeting people," he says.

The Cowboy Battalion's statistical profile shows that as enrollment has grown, cadets' academic and physical aptitudes have increased. Staver says average SAT scores for incoming freshmen have been steadily increasing, as have GPA's and scores earned in physical training. UW ROTC cadets consistently achieve the highest scores at the advanced leadership camp held each year at Ft. Lewis, Wash. In 2001 the battalion was named "Most Outstanding ROTC Unit in the Country."

Among the unit's distinguished alumni are the Army's top civilian and top uniformed officers, acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee (1962) and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker (1969).

Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2003