With the possibility of an impending war, the members of University's Reserve Officers Training Corps program are reaffirming their ideals of service to their country.
"This past week, I think I had a clearer understanding of what my grandfather felt when he heard that Pearl Harbor was attacked and went to enlist in the Army," said Brian Thomasson, a third year in the College and a cadet with the University's Air Force ROTC.
For the commanding officers in the Army, Air Force and Navy programs, Sept. 11 was unusually busy. All United States military bases were put on alert including the University's ROTC units.
Students wearing the uniforms and medals of their branches, as is required on Tuesdays for ROTC members, were ordered to go home and change into civilian clothing for security reasons.
"It affected our kids as much as it did University students," said Capt. Dick Bedford, commanding officer of the Navy ROTC program. "Our midshipmen are students first."
"Students were mad; they were grieving and like everyone else were tired of seeing the 24-7 TV coverage," said James D. Allshouse, commanding officer of the University's Air Force ROTC and a professor of air science.
Though there is obvious mobilization within the military after Tuesday's attacks, dramatic changes have not come to the University's ROTC. "They are students first. We answered a lot of students questions the first day, but we're teaching things the same way; we teach academic courses on the military," Allshouse said. "What I can say, from looking and talking to them, is that they have more of a direction now in the ROTC."
"We talked to fourth years and I told them that they could possibly go off in a year and undoubtedly that this will be a long-term event," Bedford said.
However even if war becomes a reality, some reserve officers may never be dispatched. "After graduation, they will go through training, get commissioning and they will go to their respective training schools to learn their specialty," Allshouse said. "They then will be integrated and called accordingly, some will go - some will not."
Many ROTC cadets still remember the initial alarm and fear that the attacks created.
"My first reaction was shock," Thomasson said. "I felt like I think everyone else did, grief and anger over the whole thing - innocent people going about doing their everyday business - and were killed."
But like many American civilians, the past week's events have solidified the cadets' resolve to serve their nation.
Thomasson said, "I can tell you among the cadets, it's strengthened our resolve as to why we put on our uniform. We want our children and future generations to grow up in a country that is safe."
Despite a revival of patriotism, war still remains a grim prospect for students and cadets alike.
"I don't want to go to war," cadet and third-year Engineering student Scott Rein said. "However when called upon to do so, I would consider it an honor to fight for my nation."
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