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Highlands Today

Junior ROTC is much more than marching

Jasmina Meyer, Highlands Today

From Left: Members of the Air Force JROTC Col. Aaron Haidle, Operations Officer Maj. Robyn Bakalus and Capt. Isaac Colon complete a flag detail recently at Sebring High School.

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: November 1, 2009

SEBRING - Think of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp., or JROTC, and the mind conjures a small group of military-minded young men in uniform marching with flags and rifles and practicing drills in the school parking lot.

Actually, the stereotype is wrong.

While there are drills and marches and military-style precision involved, the program is less a stepping stone for a military career and more a citizen building mission.

What's also interesting is that despite the War on Terror, local high schools have robust JROTC enrollment and many cadets are female.

Ten percent of the students at two Highlands County School District high schools, or 280, are enrolled in the elective course.

Avon Park High School's Air Force JROTC unit is 110-member strong and about 50 percent of the cadets are female.

The Sebring High School Air Force JROTC unit has 93 cadets, and the Lake Placid High School Army ROTC unit comprises 75 cadets. Both have about 30 percent females in the ranks.

The purpose of JROTC is to develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and community, said Avon Park High School JROTC instructor Chief Dennis Green.

"There is no military obligation associated with JROTC," he said. "We are not military recruiters; we're simply trying to build better citizens."

Col. Robert Smith has been a Sebring High Air Force JROTC instructor since the program started at the school in August 1993. Avon Park High School's program started the same year.

Pointing to the dozens of model military aircraft hanging from the ceiling, Smith said some of those airplanes go back to day one.

Within the first nine weeks of the program, the freshmen cadets can earn their first stripe by assembling a model aircraft.

"The biggest thing to most of these kids in these programs is ribbons and rank," he said. "I've had kids come back from 15 years ago with their sons and daughters saying 'there's my airplane over there in the corner.' "I really get a kick out of that."

Smith estimates that about 15 percent of the cadets go into the military.

"Over the years, we've probably put more into the Marine Corps than any other service," he said. "There are limited job opportunities here in Highlands County and for some of them that's the only way they have to get out."

Sebring High School junior Daniel Salinas is hoping to attend West Point.

"I will have more credits than I'm supposed to have for it, so I'll be ready," he said.

After two years in the Army JROTC at Lake Placid High, he moved to Sebring and joined the Sebring High program where he is a cadet tech sergeant.

Salinas joined JROTC because he is planning on a military career after high school.

Was JROTC what he expected?

"I thought it was going to be a little bit harder - more physical than it was educational," he said. But there has been more academics than he expected.

Salinas doesn't have time for other extra curricular school activities.

"I have a lot of homework because of the classes I have chosen," - advanced placement American history, honors algebra, chemistry and college algebra next semester, he said

Halfway through her freshman year, Jodie Williams joined the JROTC at Sebring High School because she had planned to go into the military.

Now a senior, cadet Lt. Col. Williams' plans have changed, but she believes she has benefited from her JROTC experiences.

She likes the leadership training and experience and working in groups.

Williams is currently planning and organizing the change of command ceremony that will take place in January where she will be promoted to cadet colonel and will be the top ranking cadet in the Sebring High squadron.

Williams plans on attending South Florida Community College to pursue a career as a corrections officer.

What would she say to students who wanted to know about JROTC?

"I would tell them it is definitely a good thing," she said. "We do a lot of fun things and we try to do fundraisers over the years so that the cadets can have a good spring trip at the end of the year."

The main advantage for students, if they successfully complete three years in an Army, Navy or Air Force JROTC program, is that they start at an E-3 pay grade, which is about $300 more than the usual starting pay.

The Marines start them at an E-2 grade, which is still better than the usual starting pay, Smith noted.

The vast majority of the cadets who have gone to the military and have come back from boot camp have said the JROTC program has helped them a lot because they knew what to expect and the type of attitude they needed, Smith said.

The Air Force covers the cost of the books and computers and half of the salaries of the instructors, so it's a very good deal for the school board, Smith said.

Curriculum is based on leadership with the major built around aerospace science.

From the Chinese inventing gun powder to astronomy to the current space shuttle missions, Green said, there are things they will get in this course that they won't get in any other course in high school.

"We teach them that to be a leader, you first have to be a follower," Smith said. "It's a very gratifying thing to see the metamorphosis that goes on over the four years, especially between the freshman and sophomore years."

The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized a junior course for non-college military schools, high schools and other non-preparatory schools. The Army implemented JROTC in 1916.

JROTC has expanded to 1,645 schools today and to every state in the nation and American schools overseas.

Cadet enrollment has grown to 281,000 cadets with 4,000 professional instructors in the classrooms.

Beginning with 20 units in 1966, Air Force JROTC has grown to 879 units throughout the world, with 102,000 cadets.

FAST FACTS

The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized a junior course for non-college military schools, high schools and other non-preparatory schools. The Army implemented JROTC in 1916.

JROTC has expanded to 1,645 schools today and to every state in the nation and American schools overseas.

Cadet enrollment has grown to 281,000 cadets with 4,000 professional instructors in the classrooms.

Beginning with 20 units in 1966, Air Force JROTC has grown to 879 units throughout the world, with 102,000 cadets.

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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