ROTC means family in uniform

A family built on structure and the hope to build better citizens is tucked away in upstairs D hall. JROTC is a class where students can challenge themselves in places where they had never been challenged before. JROTC may seem a little intimidating from the outside, but don't judge a book by its cover. Even though the program is based on building better citizens they still know how to have fun.

“We drill and march and play around with sergeants and joke around.” Edgar Lee, freshman, said. All ROTC cadets start their JROTC class the same with roll call, the pledge, the creed, and finally the unit motto. JROTC schedule changes throughout the week with Monday and Tuesdays being their academic days, Wednesdays are uniform days, Thursdays are special drill days, and Friday is physical training day. JROTC cadets are also required to have 12 hours of community service, but don't worry, the instructors offer plenty of opportunities to earn community service hours.

The program is run by Steven L. Dawson, Senior Master Sergeant who has been a 1st sergeant for the last 10 years, and also was in logistics for 16 years in the military, and Walter E. “Rhett” Anderson, Usaf Major who was a nuclear missile officer but his last five and a half years he was an exchange office in Germany having a total of 24 years in service. Even though Sarge and Major never took JROTC in high school, both of them knew when they retired from the military they wanted to take on the jobs as instructors for the JROTC. Major decided to take the job because if he hadn't when he did WF would have lost the JROTC program because we had been without an instructor for 2 years. Sarge came to WF because at the time it was the only one available.

Students interested don't have to fear being forced into the military if they do the program since only 2% of cadets who were in JROTC actually go on to having a military career. Many students who do JROTC do it just to get out of PE, but they all agree that joining the program was worth it. There are students, however, that do JROTC because they plan to have a military career.

"I would like to go into the military ...I do plan on going all four years in ROTC and going into the military then the navy branch and become a navy seal,” said Seth Wingate, junior.

WF JROTC has achieved many accomplishments throughout the past couple of years having earned the distinguished unit award. JROTC not only has a drill team, but there's also a JROTC chorus. Even though the drill team is still new, Sarge hopes to better the team and win some trophies, hoping to grow the program. The instructors are not the only ones creating new goals for the program. JROTC has something called smart goals which is when cadets before they leave set specific measurable, achievable, relevant and timely goals for the program.

JROTC has tons of projects they do not only for themselves, but also for the community and school. The JROTC cadets are the ones who go around no matter the weather and empty out the recycling bins.

“We have a Military ball coming up, we also had a Miss West Florence and had several people interesting and running for that...We keep our community clean and do tons of community service. We work with career classes and with the Junior achievements at Sneed. We recently introduced our program with the students at Sneed as well,” said Major Anderson.

It is highly recommended by both the instructors and cadets for other students at WF to join ROTC. Not only can students use JROTC for PE credit but it's a great way to build structure and can help better themselves.

“It shows leadership skills and helps you build as a person…..Because it’s a good opportunity for people to grow and it is a good stable ground throughout high school," said Elizabeth “Shay” Flowers, senior.

On top of being a program that helps build character and structure, joining ROTC also gives students access to another whole set of college scholarships and looks very good on job applications.

“It can help you get a scholarship into colleges, it looks good on resumes for jobs, You could be like: I did community service in ROTC.” Abigail Buddenborg sophomore, said.

“Victory starts here, with me” is the unit motto that JROTC lives by. It not only encourages cadets to do their best no matter the situation, but it also allows them to grow confidence in what they are doing and who they are as individuals. JROTC is only required to have 100 cadets per school year which means 50 first semester, 50 second semester and JROTC encourages YOU to be one of those 50.