ROTC Links Leadership and the Liberal Arts at H-SC
by: Eduardo Soto ‘11Students gain valuable management and leadership skills while supplementing their H-SC education by enrolling in Reserve Officers Training Corps
Many of us here see a few of our brothers walking around in Army camouflage—these gentlemen are part of the Reserve Officers Training Corps program. This past Thursday, October 22, one of our students participated in the ROTC’s Ranger Challenge hosted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Cadet Josh Aho ’11 represented H-SC as part of Charlie Company, Spider Battalion, which includes Longwood University. The Ranger Challenge is a competition that focuses on basic infantry and knowledge skills. These “Army Olympics,” as Aho calls them, include marksmanship, rope-bridge construction, physical fitness tests, land navigation, and more. The Challenge also includes knowledge-based competitions in memorization, general knowledge, and skill. The winner of the competition is based upon the highest of both knowledge and physical scores.
So what else do these guys do? Aho says that the ROTC “focuses on military life, reputation, and leadership” and trains its men to “do jobs well and on time.” The cadets who participate in the program get to experience both drilling and administrative tasks. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the cadets start their PT—physical training—exercises at 5:45 AM. They also have classes twice a week; freshmen cadets meet on Tuesday, sophomore cadets on Thursday, and junior and senior cadets meet both days. For freshmen cadets, the program focuses on getting used to the styles and customs of military life, while sophomores are introduced to leadership by taking roles as squad leaders. The juniors and seniors focus on the administrative tools of training and mentoring the younger cadets.
What draws one to the ROTC? For Aho, the military had always been a plan of his ever since he was little. “Becoming an officer,” he believes, “is the best route to take, and ROTC trains well-qualified officers.” As another advantage, the ROTC program helps to pay for college. Aho adds, “It is a great program full of opportunities and challenges which help find out what you’re made of.” Another cadet, Edward Krohn, ’11, says that he came to H-SC with an ROTC scholarship for a liberal arts education. Krohn says that the ROTC program here is “a very tightly knit group of men who are involved in a wide array of other activities,” so much so that the “Longwood University and H-SC cadets work together more closely than other universities within our battalion, which include Randolph Macon, VCU, and U of R.” Krohn has experienced many leadership labs as well as training exercises throughout his semesters here. He iterates that “ROTC takes a high level of discipline,” and he “strongly recommends the ROTC Program for anyone interested in serving his or her nation.”
Austin Sheppard, a sophomore cadet, shares a similar story. H-SC is a “satellite school of the U of R battalion,” which is comparable to the program at VMI. The decision, Sheppard says, was made for a “liberal arts education that would allow me to have the liberties as most other college students.” He would also recommend ROTC “if you’re a motivated individual, looking to serve your country, and gain some serious leadership potential straight out of college.” ROTC provides many summer training programs that include Air Assault School, Sapper school, and Mountain Warfare School. Sheppard attended Airborne School in Ft. Benning, GA, where he got to jump out of C-130 at 1250 feet. “It was a mind-rushing experience,” he says, “a blast to jump five times and earn the airborne title.”
One of the younger cadets, freshman Peter Howard, was drawn to Hampden-Sydney “because of how the Honor Code is respected here and the brotherhood that is shared here among the students.” “Once I found out that there was an ROTC detachment here, that just sweetened the deal.” said Howard. He went on to say that “training exercises that we have are the times when we focus on our training and really come together as a company and battalion; I came here for an education and to be in ROTC and I love it and would not want to be doing anything else in the world.” The training exercises for freshmen establish the duties and responsibilities of an Army soldier, such as addressing officers and properly wearing a uniform. Much of the training that Howard completed included some of the tasks done in the Ranger Challenge, such as land navigation. As for potential cadets, Howard has this to say, “Not everyone is made to be in ROTC and even the Army. Late nights and early mornings are the norm, and so are ruck marches in the pouring rain. Men and women have to be mentally and physically tough in order to keep up; not only with the demands of PT but also balancing their commitments to education.”
With that said, Howard would really like to see Hampden-Sydney have its own ROTC detachment; so, those gentlemen who feel they have what it takes, should join the ROTC program and help out H-SC in the process.
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