You may have seen students around campus dressed in camouflage uniforms, or maybe you've seen ROTC information tables around the Wolman lobby while heading into lunch. In a myriad of different ways, the Johns Hopkins ROTC is a strong presence on campus. But for students who aren't involved in ROTC themselves, many questions remain. What do people do in ROTC? Is it like being in the army? And why do people join ROTC in the first place?
Here at Johns Hopkins, there are 82 students enrolled in the joint ROTC program from Johns Hopkins, UMBC, Villa Julie College, the University of Baltimore, Towson University and UMCP. John Hopkins has had military training since 1898, during the Spanish-American War, but the ROTC unit was not officially established until 1916, right before the United States entered World War I. The Johns Hopkins ROTC is one of the oldest college ROTC units in the country, and since its establishment, over 3000 graduates have gone on to serve in the armed forces.
Currently, involvement in ROTC includes both courses and physical training. Freshman cadets take a class called Leadership and Management, which is offered to both ROTC students and the general student body. Sophomore year, ROTC students must take American Military Experience (which, again, is also offered to the Hopkins student body at large). This class covers American military history, including conflicts from the Colonial era during the first semester to conflicts of the 20th-century in the second semester.
These courses are led by upperclassmen, and ROTC students must take two courses a year. In the third year of ROTC, students must take Critical Theory and then in senior year, Professional Development. Between the third and fourth years of ROTC, students are required to go to advanced camp, which senior ROTC member Aaron Moak describes as "the Superbowl of ROTC." The benefits of ROTC involvement range from the practical to the personal. One great benefit of ROTC involvement is that it's very helpful when searching for jobs. Seventy percent of all corporate CEOs have some sort of military experience.
According to Second Lieutenant Mark Desautels, students join ROTC for many reasons. He says, "Some [students] join because they're looking for some excitement -we do plenty of 'adventure training' such as rappelling, paintball/laser tag, etc. Others come from military families and want to follow in their parents'/brothers'/sisters' footsteps. Others still are looking for a way to pay for college and see an Army ROTC scholarship as being very attractive to them." Moak says, "The reason I joined ROTC was because I wanted to serve my country. And I think that's why most people who are in ROTC are in it - because they feel very strongly that they want to serve their country."
ROTC students go through physical training, such as handling rifles, physical conditioning and testing and mandatory field-training exercises, and are able to try out optional training such as Color Guard, Ranger Challenge and Perishing Rifles. But the most important focus of ROTC is leadership. Moak says, "The point of ROTC is to train leaders. It's about exercising leadership in different situations. I can do things now that I never thought about before, like more efficient leadership and being an important presence in a group."
Desautels emphasizes the solidarity of ROTC, and says, "One of the things we teach the cadets is the saying 'mission first, people always,'" which reminds them that while mission accomplishment is vital, they must always look after the best interests of their soldiers. The Army is all about its people, and it's up to the cadets to learn how best to lead those people, whether it's in peace or war."
If you would like to learn more about the ROTC program at Johns Hopkins, you can check them out in the grey building behind the Athletic Center or go to http://www.armyrotc.com.
