• Take care of your Soldiers.

  September 30, 2010

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  Tags:  

  cadet   army   strong   rotc  

  When I first started looking at the Army ROTC program, it was all about “What can the Army do for me?” The 3.5 Year Campus Based Scholarship has allowed me to actualize my dreams of attending the leading institution of the University of California, Berkeley. However, I quickly came to realize that my biggest dreams actually had very little to do with my personal accomplishments…my dreams now centered around the Soldiers that I work with and the country that we are all honored to serve.
   

  The Scholarship has allowed me to leave my home town in Las Vegas, Nevada, and go to a leading public university that I thought was financially out of the question. Thanks to the Scholarship I have been given the opportunity to pursue a double major at the Haas School of Business and the Japanese Department. I enjoy an extremely diverse curriculum that exposes me to all aspects of the liberal arts and beyond and challenges me to explore the depths of my intellectual capacity. On top of my Berkeley courses, I am also undergoing a rigorous leadership development program through Army ROTC. During academic classes, I get a better understanding of leadership theory and the fundamentals to tactics and operations. In leadership labs, I work with the rest of the Golden Bear Battalion to apply the tactics that we learn and get experience working with actual teams. I balance this all out with physical training, which teaches me the importance of keeping my mind and body fit in order to be prepared for any situation.
   

  In the past two years I have been privileged to learn from some of our nation’s most amazing officers and NCOs. I am also proud to train next to my fellow cadets of the Battalion. This past summer, being a contracted cadet opened the door for me to be selected for Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA. Over the three week training period, I learned basic paratrooper skills, developed leadership abilities, and advanced my self-confidence and aggressive spirit. The most important thing I took away from Airborne, however, were the numerous conversations I had with fellow cadets, enlisted soldiers, and officers from the different services. These men and women that I trained side by side with helped me understand what it means to be in the Army and what it’s like to put other people’s needs before your own.
   

  A conversation I will never forget for the rest of my military career is one I had with a Specialist in the Army. Since he had never heard of ROTC, I had to take a lot of time to explain the program to him. Naturally, he asked me what I planned on doing once I commissioned, and I told him honestly that I had no idea. He then looked me in the eyes and said, “Well whatever you do, make sure you take care of your Soldiers.”
   

  That day was when I learned what it truly meant to be a leader in the US Army. It means to constantly better yourself so that you are the best that you can be for your own leaders and for those you lead. This is exactly what I am doing here today. Through Army ROTC, I am developing myself as a scholar, athlete, and most importantly a leader whom the members of my future units can have confidence in. Every day, I am humbled by the oath I took to support and defend the Constitution and I am thankful to Army ROTC for giving me the opportunity to do just that. I have made it my duty to make the most out of my ROTC training and college education, and I pledge to drive myself to be the greatest leader I can be for our US Army.
   

  submitted by Cadet Leah Woods on Sep 30 2010

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