Senate should consider student's input on ROTC program

By: Jared Leable

Posted: 5/7/09

I was shocked when I read the recent column about the new trial run of an Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program that will be coming to UW-Eau Claire next year.

The part I was shocked about was that there is a campus group called Staff and Faculty for Peace and Justice that is actually against this idea.

I myself am a current student at Eau Claire and an army veteran who served four years as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. The ROTC is a great way for young individuals who want to become leaders in our nation's Army to complete their education in a normal college environment - unlike a Military Academy - and make an easy transition into the service after they are done with college.

The writer said in the article the SFPJ's biggest problem is that the military discriminates against homosexuals. I am here to tell you that today's Army isn't the Army of the Clinton era.

When I was stationed at Ft.Bragg, there were several young soldiers that were caught conducting homosexual acts on camera, and they were not kicked out of the military. They were, however, transferred to different units, but this is a drastic change from what would have happened 10 years ago.

I feel that a good way to determine how everyone stands on this issue is to have a campus-wide vote on the matter so the student senators that represent us know where everyone stands.

I also hope that a group made up of our staff and faculty isn't really going to lean on our student senators to persuade their vote on the matter next year like it is described in the article. That doesn't seem like the ethical behavior that we are taught here at Eau Claire, and it doesn't set a good example for anyone interested in the issue.

Overall, I feel that we, the students, should openly welcome an ROTC program to our campus. It isn't going to interfere with anything. If people think that there are going to be Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters conducting training missions on the beautiful grass that we have at Eau Claire, then they are mistaken. All it is, is some young men and women taking classes so they can eventually lead other young soldiers in a pledge that all members of our military take to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Jared Leable
Freshman
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