JROTC: A Place to be Yourself

Remember the fish-bowl, pressure-cooker days of high school, when fitting in meant everything and belonging to a group meant unspoken acceptance, at least for a semester? Remember all the unofficial sub-groups during your own high school days- the jocks and potheads, rah-rahs and brains, freaks and geeks, or whatever?

Do you also remember those Junior ROTC soldiers-in-training who marched around in uniform once a week and politely called teachers "sir" or "ma'am," making you look bad in class?

Well, it turns out I was wrong about them.

Oh, they still wear those incredibly uncomfortable looking uniforms once a week, and I even caught one last week saying "yes, sir" to a teacher.
But I was wrong about them being in training for military service, and also about the JROTC program serving as a minor league farm system for new recruits.

"We don't push the military on our cadets," said Scott Buhmann, senior Army Instructor of Hobart High School's Junior ROTC program.

I recently visited the school's JROTC program, resurrected this year after a long absence at the school. There, while uniformed cadets marched in a field outside the school - "left, right, left right left" - retired U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Leo Marshall pointed to the door of the JROTC headquarters.

A sign stated its mission, "To motivate young people to be better citizens."
Marshall, an Army instructor at the school and former 113th Engineer Battalion soldier, told me that he and Buhmann have even talked more than one young cadet out of military service. "They were promised too much," he said.

Marshall and Buhmann, by the way, are not allowed to refer young cadets to the Armed Forces to the strictly because of their JROTC ties and duties.

I didn't know that.

And if they didn't have those JROTC ties, they would be eligible  for $2,000 per each referral, Buhmann said.

I didn't know that either.

Also, less than one-fourth of JROTC cadets march into the military after high school, Marshall noted. So, the veteran soldiers are often left with a group of young students in serious need of belonging, acceptance, and uniformed protection from the other fish-bowl school groups.

And we all remember getting ambushed at some point, right?

Along the way Buhmann and Marshall teach their cadets the JROTC's credo, painted on the wall inside the office: "Character. Teamwork. Commitment. Desire." They teach these seemingly boring life skills through more interesting lesson plans such as marksmanship, navigational  mapping and weapon skills. Whatever works, I say.

The program's students range from a motley crew of rowdy knuckleheads to a few well-disciplined kids with serious career plans.
 
You know, typical teenagers.

Thursday night at Hobart's American Legion Post 54, these typical teenagers were awarded something they need just as much as a sense of belonging- recognition for their achievements.

Several community groups came together Thursday night to show these kids that they belong  and they are part of something bigger than their lives. These groups included the Indiana National Guard, Sons of the American Revolution, Dughters of the American Revolution, Hobart Chamber of Commerce and VFW.

Last night all of the teens received public praise through pins, citations and verbal kudos, and four of them - Traveena Smith, 15, Erick Pistello, 16, Anthony Gilyan, 18, and Max Wineinger, 19 - were honored with even higher praise: the Superior Cadet Award.

Surprisingly, of the 41 cadets in Hobart's JROTC program, only three are planning to serve Uncle Sam after graduation. The rest will soon be marching among us civilians.

We can only hope the essential human qualities of belonging, acceptance, and recognition - drilled into them daily under Buhmann and Marshall- will serve them, long after they stop wearing those junior soldiers Army uniforms.