蜜桃直播

Enrolling in a Reserve Officers鈥� Training Corps (ROTC) program is a substantial undertaking. It includes physical training at the crack of dawn, extensive field training, and military science courses. When you add in the regular student course load, these cadets are pushing themselves to the limit. Yet ROTC graduating students at 蜜桃直播 are slow to take credit and quick to express gratitude. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned so much about leadership and been challenged so much in this program. It鈥檚 been wonderful,鈥� says Tyler O鈥橬eal, a graduating cadet in Army ROTC.

Last year, AU was selected as a top military-friendly school by Military Advanced Education, a publication that deals with higher learning issues for service members.

New 蜜桃直播s

The AU cadets in Army ROTC are part of the , which meets at Georgetown University and includes other Washington, D.C. area schools. The graduating cadets took disparate paths to AU, but they later adopted a shared sense of responsibility and sacrifice.

Army ROTC graduating cadet Peter Keiser hails from Mifflinburg, a small town in central Pennsylvania. Growing up, he played bagpipes and was involved in Boy Scouts. Keiser is now earning his degree in international studies in the School of International Service. On campus, he鈥檚 also been a part of the co-ed service fraternity

O鈥橬eal is originally from Fremont, Ohio, and both of his grandfathers served in the Indiana National Guard. 鈥淚 grew up loving military history. I was a big Civil War buff. And I was sort of fascinated by the military,鈥� he says. O鈥橬eal previously served as an enlisted soldier in the Virginia National Guard. While working at the Department of Homeland Security complex on Nebraska Avenue, a colleague took him across the street to meet with an administrator at AU鈥檚 School of Public Affairs. He eventually enrolled in Army ROTC and he鈥檚 earning his master鈥檚 degree in public administration at SPA.

Nicholas Melfi grew up in Franklin, Massachusetts. He already got accepted to AU when he decided to file paperwork for Army ROTC. With other battalion cadets, Melfi was on the Ranger Challenge team that competes in physical fitness, obstacle course, land navigation, and other exercises. Melfi is getting a dual degree in political science and mathematics and economics.

Air Force ROTC

AU also has cadets in an Air Force ROTC program based at Howard University. Nicole Dallas is one of two Air Force ROTC students graduating this month. She鈥檚 getting her bachelor鈥檚 degree in political science.

Dallas is a native of Jefferson, Ohio, in the Cleveland metro area, and she鈥檚 the first person in her family to pursue military service. 鈥淚 really started looking at it as a way to pay for school,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that I definitely love. And it鈥檚 now about more than just the money that they give you.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 definitely more of an Air Force person. I鈥檓 not into crawling around the woods and stuff,鈥� she jokes. 鈥淚鈥檝e had fun with it, but I couldn鈥檛 do it as my job.鈥�

That鈥檚 not to say she wasn鈥檛 game for some extreme field training. She took part in a grueling summer training program for 28 days鈥攚ith each day lasting from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. This also included a special mock deployment. 鈥淭hat is the best part of it all, because you get to actually go out and shoot big guns. And do stuff you鈥檒l never get to do as an Air Force officer, basically.鈥�

Band of Brothers

For the Army ROTC graduates, it鈥檚 clear that their experience was not just about school and military service. The AU cadets in the Hoya Battalion formed a fraternal, tight-knit group. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a really great experience to just get to know these guys. And we all kind of trained together, and became our little band of brothers,鈥� Keiser says.听

Keiser elaborates on this by comparing his situation to non-ROTC students. 鈥淵ou come in and your freshman [residence hall] floor all gets together and hangs out, and that鈥檚 who your friends are for the first year. Second year, you develop other friends and it goes on. ROTC, it鈥檚 like that one constant friend group in my entire life that just developed over the past four years,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e just spend so much time together.鈥�

The cadets are united by a common goal of serving their country. So, by its very nature, ROTC encourages members to hash out their differences. 鈥淲e have to cultivate a community where we all know we can depend on each other,鈥� Keiser explains. 鈥淲e have to have that camaraderie to be effective.鈥�

鈥淩OTC is not really something you do on your own. It鈥檚 something you do together,鈥� adds O鈥橬eal.听

As a graduate student, O鈥橬eal was initially apprehensive about how he鈥檇 fit in with the entire group. 鈥淚鈥檓 almost 30 years old, because I followed this nontraditional path. And almost all the seniors who are graduating are 21 or 22, and I didn鈥檛 know if we would really have that much in common,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I have made some of the best friends in ROTC that I have ever had.鈥�

O鈥橬eal believes ROTC integrated him into the campus community. 鈥淢y graduate program largely exists to support students who are working full time,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think having that experience of being with a lot of undergrads, people with different backgrounds, I got really plugged into the campus,鈥� he says.

The Next Step

The cadets are now planning for their next assignments. In January, Keiser will head to Virginia for more training. He鈥檚 hoping to eventually become an Army captain, which could possibly open up internship opportunities at the Pentagon or White House. O鈥橬eal is going to be a military intelligence officer in the Maryland National Guard. He鈥檒l also keep working in a civilian job, and he鈥檚 considering law school at some point. Melfi will soon do infantry training at Fort Benning in Georgia. Dallas will go to intelligence school at the Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas.

Whatever career choices these cadets make, serving in ROTC certainly prepared them for future endeavors. Keiser sums it up this way: 鈥淥ne of my suitemates two years ago said that ROTC is a weird mixture between a fraternity and an internship and a job. And it鈥檚 so true because that鈥檚 what it entails.鈥�