In order to teach students about military training and leadership, the Junior Reserve

Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program officially started this August with approximately 350 members.

“Allen is a model school when it comes to everything,” Sergeant Major Bruce Cole said. “There are kids who excel at different kinds of sports, and when you look at the number of the students who begin careers in the military, a large percentage of those kids will at least try for an enlistment. [I wish] I had this opportunity when I was in high school knowing that I was going to have a career in the military.”

According to the United States JROTC website, JROTC, which started in 1916, is the Department of Defense’s largest youth developmental program. This program is a cooperative effort between the Military and high schools to create successful students and citizens, while also transforming the school into a more constructive and disciplined learning environment.

“I thought [JROTC] was a good opportunity to gain more experience in the military forces and to try to get more discipline and to at least try to break my procrastination habits,” sophomore Yaritza Arellano said.

This past summer approximately 15 JROTC students attended a summer leadership camp to prepare for class and learn basic military practices such as marches and drills. These students served as leaders during boot camp, which started this past July after the leadership camp. In order to prepare for JROTC, approximately 15 to 50 students practiced drills and marches in this boot camp.

“We rely heavily on a small group of students who came loyally and religiously all throughout the summer everyday, 8 o’clock in the morning,” Cole said. “It was completely voluntarily on their own, and they are a great bunch of kids and as a result, they are primarily the upperclassmen, and they make up the core of the regimental staff.”

There are six JROTC classes, taught by Cole, Major Tom Connor and Master Sergeant David Robinson. In these classes the students learn about the basics of military training, discipline and leadership. The students are required to wear a Marine Corps uniform every Wednesday for an inspection. For the inspection the students are checked to see if their uniform, boots and hair meet the standards and requirements of JROTC.

“I like wearing [the uniform], I just hate the people staring, and the stares get old after a while,” senior Mark Solomon said. “Overall, I like wearing it because it is pretty cool. It’s the uniform I am wanting to wear after high school.”

Solomon is one of the students who participated in the leadership camp as well as boot camp, and is one of the three male captains. He said he decided to join JROTC because he plans to go into the military next year, and one of the reasons he wants to join is because his great uncle was a general in the military, and a few of his other relatives have fought for our nation.

“[Having family in the military] is one of those things where you got to be proud of it,” Solomon said. “Not everyone has a great uncle or a family member who was a general, and somewhere along the line on my dad’s side won the French version of the Medal of Honor.”

As a member of JROTC, Connor said that he believes the biggest benefit of the program is that students gain familiarity with the Marine Corps. Connor said that if a student is going to the actual military forces boot camp and has been in the program for four years, they will have an immense amount of knowledge, skills and drills, which will allow them to assume more leadership positions.

“[JROTC] is a whole new culture, and boot camp is like new cultivation in a very rude and brutal way,” Connor said. “What [the students] can pick up from the program kind of softens the edges a bit, and it is a little bit easier to swallow when they can anticipate or see where things are coming from or understand the whole culture of the military.”

Both Arellano and Solomon said that they see a future with the military forces. On Oct. 3 Solomon officially swore into the armed forces, and he will be heading to boot camp next July for the Marine Corps. Arellano said that she wants to go into the military forces for a few years and then eventually become involved with the FBI.

“[Students in JROTC] gain confidence, leadership, and if you’re going into the military, you can actually get scholarships from it,” Solomon said. “They will actually give you promotions in the military for a certain amount of JROTC experience, and it just gives you a sense of reality, how to work with others, how to take orders, just teamwork and confidence and leadership.”

story by Maggie Rians // assistant editor