While this may seem like the stuff of fiction, a similar training scenario for student soldiers occurred not too long ago on our familiar campus.
Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program is a college-based officer commissioning program used predominantly in the United States. ROTC at Dartmouth dates back to World War II, when the College was the central site for the US Navy's V-7 and V-12 programs, training around 2,000 men for the war effort. In the postwar years, the program transformed into ROTC, enlisting between 300 and 400 men from each class -- almost half the student body at the time. These years were characterized by cadet drills on the Green, and national holidays were even commemorated by military marches around Hanover.
Despite a rich history in Hanover and financial incentives to join, ROTC has become a rather small entity on campus, with only six official cadets currently enrolled.
Christopher J. Koppel '09 and Philip L. Aubart '10, a staff columnist for The Dartmouth, both signed contracts with the U.S. military and will serve in the army for four years after graduation. Both of them are receiving scholarships from ROTC, which are worth up to $23,000 a year.
With a father in the Navy, Koppel knew about military careers from a young age, but it was only after he came to Dartmouth that he decided to join ROTC.
Aubart's background is a little bit different. Motivated by the desire to serve his country, he has already spent time in the army as a Human Intelligence Collector, specifically as an Arab linguist, before enrolling at Dartmouth.
ROTC certainly does not define its participants. Koppel is a varsity swimmer and engineering major in addition to devoting several hours a week to his training. He is even against the war in Iraq, though he is still willing to go and fight there in defense of the country. Koppel said that since there are U.S. soldiers dying for the country, he would love to go and help them out. He noted that all ROTC cadets certainly don't share the same political preferences, but instead share a desire to serve and do what is necessary when called upon.
"ROTC is actually cool," said Koppel. "It is outdoorsy and fun! It is a great break from school."
"Definitely ROTC is not for everyone," cautioned Aubart. "It offers good experiences, not necessarily present ones, but good quality is guaranteed."
Koppel and Aubart said they'd like to see ROTC expand on campus, citing the difficulty of truly experiencing training with such a small membership. ROTC's stated goal is to develop the future leaders of America through classroom instruction, physical fitness training and leadership laboratories where cadets are challenged to lead their peers in a combat environment. Ultimately, the program seeks to recruit candidates who will eventually serve in the Army as 2nd Lieutenants. All participants in training are not automatically required to enter the army after college.
"I haven't contracted; I haven't signed anything," said Frost Gay '10. "The army knows I exist because I sign all these papers to get uniforms for free, but they're not paying for my school right now because I don't think I'm going to contract with Dartmouth ROTC... At the end of this year I will have to either contract or leave."
Dartmouth currently provides the ROTC program with an office in Leverone and a budget for basic training. Physical training is an important part of the program, but the cadets also have class where they read books about strong character and exemplary leaders.
"Each chapter in our textbook starts off with an anecdote of how and why various leaders excelled in certain situations," explained Koppel. "It's interesting to see exactly how and why big names such as George Washington, Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln stand out as inspirational leaders."
Koppel and Aubart's biggest inspirations, however, come from more recent history.
Aubart cites John McCain as a personal hero. "He stayed in a horrible prison camp for years and didn't accept early release because of his sense of honor, duty and commitment to his fellow soldiers," he said.
Gay's inspiration to train for service comes from his family. "My grandfather was a major general; the military sort of runs in the family," he said. "It skipped a generation with my parents, but I basically grew up hearing stories about the army and the armed services."
Koppel named Major Richard Winters from World War II. "He was not a career soldier. He went to business school at Franklin and Marshal and volunteered for the army to cut down on his service time with the daft. His success came from a personal integrity to do his best no matter what his job. After the war he was able to live out a very peaceful life on a farm in Lancaster -- a prime example of a citizen-solder."
This ideal of the citizen-soldier is central to ROTC's mission, and it's a large part of the rationale for having such a program at Dartmouth. However, as the program's tumultuous history shows, many other see those two categories as incompatible and even morally reprehensible.
During the 1960s, many college campuses erupted in anti-war protest and Dartmouth was no exception. At that time, ROTC programs across the country provided the army with 88 percent of its commanding officers. The visible presence of army uniforms and combat gear was more than this generation could swallow, and the protest sparked a campus-wide debate.
Objections to the ROTC program were certainly manifestations of larger anti-war sentiment brought on by Vietnam; however, many also saw the presence of a military training program, especially during such an unpopular war, as antithetical to the mission of a liberal arts college. In a policy statement sent to 325 college and university presidents around the nation, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that ROTC programs "threaten the values of free inquiry and academic autonomy which are at the heart of academic freedom," and in "placing premium on indoctrinations and discipline" oppose the concept of a free university.
The Dartmouth Editorial Board stated in a April 22, 1969 Verbum Ultimum that "ROTC is part of an immense military machine which is waging an immoral and unjustifiable war upon the people of a relatively poor county, in the process decimating both the country and its people... By sanctioning the presence of ROTC on campus, even as an extracurricular activity, the College gives at least tacit support to this military effort."
At the time, nearly 400 students were enrolled in the program, which granted participants both scholarships and course credit. These advantages to being a member of the training program heightened the controversy over the decision of how to reform or phase it out.
A 1968 faculty Committee on Organization on ROTC presented recommendations for the elimination of course credit if military training (as opposed to instruction) was not phased out of the program after three years. This plan was approved by a 101 to 32 vote on January 31, 1969; protracted debate between students, faculty and administration erupted over the ROTC presence over the next six months.
Many people, most notably the militant national group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), found the resolution too lenient on ROTC and slow in implementation. In a panel about the report, professor David Krubin accused it of " attempting to build a new, better ROTC...attempting to remove training and drill because it reminded too many others of Vietnam, hoping that ROTC would be out of sight and out of mind."
Steven J. Stoll '68, spokesperson for SDS, told The Dartmouth that the committee was "supposed to carry forth the spirit of the faculty resolution. It seems clear, however, that ROTC plans to stay." SDS called for the immediate expulsion of ROTC. The group spearheaded a number of nonviolent sit-ins at Parkhurst Hall, demonstrations against recruiting and petitions for institutional action. They also were largely responsible for the violent takeover of Parkhurst on May 3 (see opposite).
On April 28, almost 90 percent of the student body voted on a referendum to reopen the issue; 59.7 percent of those who voted called for the elimination of ROTC, either gradually over three years or immediately. Finally, on May 5, 1969, Dartmouth faculty approved the plan gradually eliminate ROTC over four years by a 131 to 60 vote.
As time passed, it seemed that the College and the army could be reconciled, and a decade after the end of America's war in Vietnam, College President David McLaughlin allowed the return of the ROTC to campus, despite a 113 to 39 vote against restoring the armed forces as a campus presence. McLaughlin noted that "students are more conservative these days" to the Boston Globe, which was confirmed by Student Assembly' unanimous support of his actions; however, 487 other students signed petitions against ROTC's return.
Controversy has continued. In 1994, a series of faculty votes once again supported the elimination of ROTC from Dartmouth, due to their opposition to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuals. The inevitable connections between military policy and cadets -- however mistaken -- has led many other colleges, like Columbia, to outright ban their presence. In a Feb. 5 column asking for more college support for ROTC students, Aubart pointed out that "although the controversial policy prevents openly gay soldiers from serving in the military, cadets did not create it... Cadets may even be the ones to change the policy someday" ("Now Help ROTC," Feb. 5).
Aubart dares students to think twice before similarly writing off ROTC.
"You never know what it is like until you actually consider [it]," Aubart said. "The ROTC program allows you grow and learn leadership. You will experience a great camaraderie. It teaches you not only to take care about yourself but also to take care of your buddy."
Koppel concurred, advocating the importance of the relationships forged through the program.
"Even if you do not want to sign the contract, you should try out and hang out with us. You don't have to decide whether you want to sign the contract until your junior year," he said.
For the Dartmouth undergraduates who chose to actively involve themselves in ROTC, service is not a question of wars or politics but of values and a sense of duty. Dartmouth has a storied history of both military achievement and controversy; today's ROTC cadets have the opportunity to continue at least one of those traditions.
