National ROTC Coverage: 2018

• 10 April 2018 Harvard Crimson column "M16s and MREs: Real weapons, military rations, college kids, no sleep—what could possibly go wrong?" by Garce M. Chao '19.  Note:  A Harvard Army ROTC student discusses how ROTC training involves nontrivial real-life thinking and wider lessons.  "You can perfectly plot your points, plan an ingenious route, shoot perfect compass azimuths, but the woods and terrain will still have the final say" and "as is the case with many events in Army ROTC, the ultimate goal of seemingly irrelevant training is not necessarily developing perfect compass skills, but developing the mental skills to stay calm and collected under pressure... The goal is to develop resilient leaders and effective communicators. Every cadet will need those soft skills, whether they’re leading a real Infantry platoon or commanding a Cyber task force."
• 25 April 2018 Breitbart article "CCNY Student Activists Demand ROTC Program Be Shut Down".  Note: The student campaign against ROTC attributes a quote to the American Enterprise Institute that was in fact made up by the activists and appears nowhere in the AEI report.  The anti-ROTC effort is claiming that the push for ROTC at CCNY aimed to have military officers be from low-income backgrounds, while in fact military officers are typically from middle income groups, and those pushing for ROTC at CCNY also pushed successfully for ROTC at elite colleges as part of an effort to widen the income backgrounds at both ends.
• 19 May 2018 Amherst College "Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Commissioning Ceremony".  Note:  Amherst College graduated its first Army ROTC student in two decades.  Speaking at the commissioning ceremony were Amherst College President Biddy Martin and US Rep. Seth Moulton.  Both discussed the difficulty of a college learning how to accommodate the requirements of military training in an environment that had little such experience, and celebrated the progress that had been made.  See also video and more details about the participants.
• 19 May 2018 video "Rep. Moulton Remarks at Pinning Ceremony for 2LT Segal – Amherst College".
• 21 May 2018 New Haven Register article "Yale ROTC units celebrated at commissioning ceremony".  Note:  Twenty four students were commissioned as officers in the Navy and Air Force.  Former ambassador Ryan Crocker said "leave lots of room for serendipity, for the essential spontaneity of choice — not choices you make, but dynamics that may choose you. Raise your hand for absolutely everything".  See photos here.
• 23 May 2018 Amherst College article "She’s in the Army Now: Rebecca Segal ’18, Amherst’s first Army ROTC student in two decades, receives her commission in a ceremony at Johnson Chapel".  Note:  Amherst College President Biddy Martin spoke at the commissioning of Amherst College's first Army ROTC student in two decades, saying “Rebecca is not only the first, but she’s also a shining example of what’s possible”. Amherst College and the Army ROTC unit at UMass Amherst worked together to create a pathway for Rebecca Segal, who studied at the College and did her reserve officer training at the university. President Martin noted that, in 2016, Segal transferred from George Washington University, which has a strong ROTC program. “But she chose to come to Amherst because she had the ambition and desire to get the best possible education in a place where class sizes are small, academic standing is strong and she could be a neuroscience major”, adding with a smile: “What she has done in her short time at Amherst is nothing short of incredible... Despite our lack of experience, she has taught us what it means to support students like herself. We’re proud of what you’ve done and proud of what you’re about to do.”
• 23 May 2018 Harvard Magazine article "A Profession Based on Honor and Trust".  Note: Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter described how foreigners told him that the United States is widely admired because of the high ethical standards of the US Military, and advised the graduating students to “Always remember to behave yourself as though someone’s mother is watching.”  Six students were commissioned; a 7th, Kirstin Anderson ’18, was commissioned earlier because she is a varsity sailor and "competing with her teammates at the ICSA Women’s National Championship in Norfolk, Virginia this week".
• 23 May 2018 Harvard Gazette article "Purpose in service: Warrior-scholars assume new leadership roles at ROTC commissioning ceremony".  
• 23 May 2018 "2018 Remarks at ROTC Commissioning Ceremony" by Harvard President Drew Faust.  Note:  President Faust said "I have believed it is imperative that Harvard and the military maintain a close relationship... strong connections between Harvard and our armed forces are essential to Harvard’s—and the nation’s—present and future. Harvard students aspiring to be leaders and influencers in America and the world need to understand the military. And the military has and will continue to benefit from the contributions of the extraordinary leaders educated here." 
• 26 May 2018 Cornell Chronicle article "18 ROTC cadets commissioned as officers".  Note:  Rear Adm. Erik M. Ross ’88, the current president of the Naval Board of Inspection and Survey, advised the students being commissioned “Read history, read biographies. You can learn from the lessons of those who have gone before us”.
• 27 May 2018 Tufts Daily article "Sports and service: exploring the lives of athletes in ROTC".  Note:  Andrew Seiter and Tyler Hagedorn are both in ROTC and play varsity sports. Hagedorn is the captain of the crew team, and his coach said “Every year, he has to miss some practices, and ordinarily as a coach, that’s not something that I would permit. I made an exception for Tyler because he said he said he was willing to do whatever extra work it took to be a good team member.”  "Hagedorn agrees that the schedule was initially demanding. He’s adapted to the extra workload by changing his sleeping patterns. He doesn’t see it as a difficult thing to do — just something that’s part of the job. “People tell me, ‘Oh, I could never do [ROTC].’ But that’s not true. Anyone could do it — you just have to have some discipline,” Hagedorn said. “You wake up earlier and go to bed earlier. I go to sleep from 11–12 and wake up at six in season. There are naps for a reason.”"

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