Reasons for ROTC enrollment increase go beyond 9/11

Freshman enrollment in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps at IU has more than doubled since last year's terrorist attacks, but officials said the reasons go beyond a heightened sense of patriotism.\nMike Saulkenberg, Cadet Battalion commander, said he recently surveyed all ROTC freshmen for their reasons for joining the Army. None of the students specifically cited a reflection on Sept. 11 as their main purpose for enrolling.\nOverall enrollment in the Army ROTC increased 57 percent this year and freshmen enrollment increased 106 percent, Capt. Heath Dunbar said.\nThe Army attributed its leadership training programs as one factor for the significant increase in student enrollment. ROTC students earn the title of lieutenant upon graduation, which guarantees them a professional job, Dunbar said.\n"We're not here to just produce individual soldiers," said Lt. Col. Wayne Pollard, a professor of military science. "We're here to develop leaders." \nPollard also credited the Army's student growth to their new recruiting focus. ROTC encourages its students to make the most of their college years by participating in other campus programs, Pollard said.\nEach year, more of their students take active roles in sports, greek life and campus events such as the Little 500, Dunbar said.\nDunbar further ascribed the increase to wider campus exposure of the Army's scholarship and leadership opportunities. \n"ROTC provides such a great opportunity for financial aid," said Saulkenberg, a senior. "With the help from the money and the desire to serve in the military, I thought it was a great opportunity to teach me how to be a leader."\nMany graduates of the ROTC plan to pursue other careers for defending national security besides serving in the U.S. Military, Dunbar said.\n"Nearly every person that has come in the door here has viewed ROTC not only as a step to becoming part of the military and the army," Dunbar said. "But a lot of them are interested in taking their degrees and using their military experience for continuing on to the CIA or FBI."\nThe CIA and FBI are interested in whether an applicant has military experience, Dunbar said. \n"The perception is out there that military service is a stepping stone," Dunbar said. "And that generates interest in our programs."\nDunbar also suggested a strong sense of patriotism and a desire to serve their country as students' motivation to join ROTC.\nPollard and Dunbar said it can't be confirmed that the increase of freshman from 16 students last year to 33 students this year is a direct result of strong patriotic feelings after Sept. 11.\nSaulkenberg said his survey proves there's more to it than that.\n"While a lot of people don't necessarily join just because of Sept. 11," Saulkenberg said, "I think that everyone involved in the program has that sense of patriotism."\nGeneral patriotic feelings may be only one of the reasons for increase in ROTC enrollment, but the implications of the Sept. 11 attacks remain evident in Americans' lives, Pollard said.\n"Most human beings are involved in (the aftermath of Sept. 11) and have a story to tell," Pollard said. "There was a temporary intoxication of Sept. 11 after it happened. But as President Bush has said, 'It ain't over."