A retired Army four-star general, William B. Rosson (1918-2004), once privately told me in mid-July 1987 that West Point either graduated very good officers or very bad ones and not much in between. Unfortunately, he offered no opinion on either the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland or the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Hopefully, West Point has improved its officer training program since the 1980s.
General Rosson was both a Business Administration and Army ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) major, who was commissioned as a second lieutenant after graduating from the University of Oregon in 1940. He told me that one of the major strengths of his ROTC program was the constant well-rounded interaction that he and his fellow cadets had with the civilian students, professors and administrators.
This was especially true in the classrooms, sporting events, dining hall, athletic events, clubs and dormitories. He also said that his military training during the summer was both very instructive, lot of fun, and kept him in excellent physical condition.
General Rosson told me that ROTC graduates, especially his lieutenants and captains, generally had a better rapport with the enlisted soldiers than West Point graduates. That was his experience in World War II, Korea and to a lesser extent in Vietnam when he was General William C. Westmoreland’s Chief of Staff in Saigon from approximately 1968 to 1970. Unfortunately, he told me that one disadvantage of being a high ranking general during his four tours in Vietnam was his inability to personally interact with soldiers below the rank of captain.
Roanoke College needs an ROTC program for many different reasons. First, ROTC would give a student an opportunity to study military science, pursue an academic major and obtain a commission after graduation as a second lieutenant in the Army, Marines or Air Force or as an ensign in the Navy.
ROTC would provide invaluable lessons in nine critical areas: leadership, teamwork, merit, work ethic, character formation, ethics, perseverance, physical fitness and especially developing strong interpersonal skills with both subordinates and superior officers (i.e. bosses).
These skills would not only be applicable to the military but to all aspects of civilian life such as business, teaching, medicine, law enforcement, elected office and the civil service to name just a few.
Second, Roanoke College will be starting a varsity football team in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in 2025. ROTC scholarships regardless of length along with a generous monthly stipend would be an excellent way both to recruit and retain less affluent players, and help them afford the comprehensive fee of $53,434 per year since Division III colleges cannot offer athletic scholarships.
I can almost guarantee that an ROTC student, who plays football at Roanoke College, is not going to cause many disciplinary problems, have a higher-than-average GPA, not miss classes and probably be a role model for both his teammates and classmates.
Plus, head Coach Bryan Stinespring at Roanoke College would be almost guaranteed a player, who would be in excellent physical condition twelve months a year.
And last, an ROTC program would instill the value of hard work and merit at Roanoke College where most of the students come from privileged upper middle-class and upper-class backgrounds. ROTC students would also act as potential role models, who would be much more likely to stay away from alcohol and illegal drugs, which are extremely rampant on most U.S. college and university campuses today.
I hope that President Frank Shushok, Jr., the faculty and the Board of Trustees will soon approve the adoption of an ROTC program regardless of military branch at Roanoke College before the 2025-26 academic year.
– Robert L. Maronic