My name is Cadet LaBelle and I am a senior at the University of Montana. I was awarded a four-year scholarship through ROTC in my senior year of high school, and contracted in the fall of 2007. Originally, I'm from the Kelso-Longview area of Washington state. Growing up, I always told my friends and family that I wasn't going to college unless I could get someone else to pay for it. It started as a joke, but then I figured that I was probably smart enough and well-rounded enough to get a scholarship. Besides, I'm the youngest of five; my parents would have to put all my siblings through school, and I really didn't want to be a burden.
 

By my sophomore year in high school, I knew that I wanted to join the Army. Not because they'd pay for school, but because I love my country and I think that it is an honor and a privilege to serve. We have a tradition of service in my family, but rest assured that the decision was my own. All a tradition means is that I wasn't worried about telling my parents about my choice and that they fully support me. Although I toyed with the idea of going to the Academy, I ultimately decided that it wasn't the right path for me. I wanted to be an officer, but I still wanted to be a citizen, and a normal student, too, at least for a little while. ROTC let me do that, and my university is close enough for me to be able to fly home for the holidays.

The scholarship is a blessing; I'm a full-time student and the course load isn't easy. My job is to get good grades, and because I don't have to work some minimum wage job to make student loan payments, I can focus on my studies and I have the time and resources to do volunteer work and hold down an unpaid internship. I can develop myself as a student-leader in my honor society. I can take that extra hour to practice the motivational interviewing skills that I'll need in my chosen field, or to work on lowering my run time at the gym (I've never been very fast: short legs, and all).

Is ROTC always easy? No. It's a lot of early mornings and stressful evenings. Teamwork, no matter how nice you are or how great you are with people, is not always a cake-walk; it takes time to get used to the Army way and always having accountability of your guys and gals. But eventually, it becomes habit and ritual. Eventually, you'll put on that uniform and won't think that it looks odd on you. You'll find a way to make all your gear fit, even though the Army has never made anything in your size. You'll even stop complaining about the way that the rank on your cap puts indents in your forehead, no matter how you wear it.

It doesn't have to be easy, because I know that what we're doing is worth it in the end.