Thursday, September 22, 2005
USI Army ROTC
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When Staff Sergeant Mark Wannemueller, operations and training NCO for USI’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, is asked if recruitment is more difficult now that the United States is at war, he doesn’t know the answer. The country has been at war since shortly after USI began the program in fall 2001. “We were moving furniture into our building on campus on September 11, 2001,” he said. A year and a half later, Wannemueller was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, where he served in the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom before returning to the University. Army ROTC is an elective which a student can take for up to two years with no further obligation. “The first two years of our program are designed to be equivalent to the basic training experience – not to say we have a drill sergeant running around screaming and people doing pushups all day long – but the program is designed to give students the information they get in basic training,” Wannemueller said. Students who wish to complete the four-year program sign a contract at the beginning of their sophomore or junior year which commits them to at least four years of service. Some go into active duty, but many fulfill their time in the Army Reserve or National Guard. Students who complete the four-year ROTC program are commissioned as second lieutenants. Freshmen in ROTC take one credit hour course per semester, sophomores take two hours a week per semester, and juniors and seniors take three hours a week per semester. In addition, there are required lab hours in which students get field training on University property, including combat water survival in the Physical Activities Center pool, and rappelling from cliffs on campus. The program also offers electives such as U.S. Military History from 1740 to the Present, and independent studies. Students who take additional ROTC classes can earn a minor in military science. Henderson, Kentucky native Matt Roberts, 23, is pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree. He chose USI because he could pursue the MBA and enroll in an ROTC program. Because he is pursuing a two-year degree and had never served in the military, Roberts had to attend an ROTC camp called the Leader’s Training Course, held over four weeks during the summer at Fort Knox, Kentucky. A financial analyst with Alcan, Roberts was inspired to enroll in ROTC after he read an article that said the Army Reserve was short on officers. “I thought it would be physically and mentally challenging, but something I could do while getting my MBA, as opposed to going through other commissioning processes through the Army,” he said. “I wanted to see if I could do it, so it was both a personal challenge and a chance to fill a need for my country.” Roberts plans to graduate in December 2005. He hopes to work in military intelligence in the Army Reserve. Eric McDaniel, 30, of Posey County, Indiana, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He signed a contract with the Army Reserve in 2001. A student such as McDaniel, with previous military experience, isn’t required to take the first two years of the program and can come into the program in the fall of his or her junior year. “Students with military experience make up a high percentage of our actual contracted cadets,” said Wannemueller. “They come to us, sign our contract, and get their commission as an officer while they’re going to college.” McDaniel’s Army Reserve unit is a combat stress control unit. “We concentrate on post-traumatic stress, debriefing, and briefing before deployment. I’ll probably stay in the Army Reserve or the National Guard and work in that field,” he said. His unit has been deployed to Iraq for about a year. McDaniel is released from duty because he is in ROTC. “That was hard for me,” he said. “All my best friends are in the unit. But I still talk to them every once in a while.” McDaniel admires students who have enrolled in ROTC at USI. “Since the start of this ROTC program, the U.S. has been at war,” he said. “That says a lot about the students who are joining ROTC, because most of them know there is a good possibility they are going to get deployed.” ROTC students also receive a stipend, but Wannemueller said students shouldn’t sign up in order to receive financial compensation. “I need students who want to be leaders, not students who are looking for a way to get money while they go to college,” Wannemueller said. “If you’re doing it only for the tangible benefits, you’re probably not in the right place.” USI’s program is part of the Wabash Battalion based out of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. USI cadets make up half the enrollment in the battalion, which also includes DePauw University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, and Indiana State University. For more information, go to the USI ROTC Web page, www.usi.edu/extserv/ROTC/index.asp, or call the ROTC program at 812/461-5302 or 812/461-5304. |
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