Have you ever thought about how many members of JROTC go on to promote to the active military? While JROTC stands for Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, not all people who join this program want to be in the military.

Major Archie Roundtree, who has overseen JROTC at this school for five years said that last year, they had twenty-two members graduate from the ROTC program (JROTC at a college level). Roughly 40 percent of them went on to promote to the military, which is not very many people. This could be because a lot of people don’t join JROTC because they want to be in the military. I asked Major Roundtree, “Why do you think many kids join JROTC without intentions of joining the military?” He said, “We’re not here to enlist anyone into the military. Our mission is to build students’ character, self-development, to service the community, to service the nation … if they decide they want to go to the military, then of course we’ll help them do whatever they can. If they want to go to law school, we’ll help them with that, if they want to be a doctor or scientist, we’ll help them with that. [JROTC] is really to make them successful with whatever they do.” He also said he thinks that those are reasons why kids join JROTC but do not go off to the military.

Then, there are kids who are part of JROTC and do want to enlist, such as deputy group commander, Jessica Perze and the chief of staff, Briana Rodriguez. Jessica has been part of JROTC all four years of high school and Briana has been part of JROTC for three years. I asked, “Do you guys have plans to go to the military after high school?” and they both are considering going to the military. Perez said, “After high school I … want to maybe transfer to a four-year college with ROTC, which is college JROTC, then go into the Air Force as an officer.” Perez’s reason for wanting to go into the Air Force is military background is common in her family, so she knows what she would be getting into. The experience she is getting here with JROTC is familiar with what is there in the Air Force, which makes her feel set for it.

Rodriguez had a similar answer when asked, “Do you have genuine plans to go into the military?” She said, “For me it is kind of the same thing. College as well but also academy wise to actually go into the officer position when I get into the military.” As to why she would want to go into the military, she said, “… Military also runs in my family. My brother was in the military so I kind of got inspiration from them.”