Students serve country, get higher education

Students enlisted in UNC’s two branches of Reserve Officer Training Corps — the Air Force ROTC and the Army ROTC — choose to serve their country and benefit their careers. Reserve officers who are enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado pursue military training and daily academic enrichment.

The programs are a joint venture with UNC and Colorado State University.

Bill Hudson, a senior history major and the morale and recruiting officer of the Air Force ROTC, said the program is a collegiate program students can take, and if the student passes all the requirements upon graduation, the student will be commissioned into the Air Force as an officer.

“UNC is a satellite school,” Hudson said. “Our main detachment, which is like a main base, is at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, and UNC is called Detachment 90. Our detachment is regarded as one of the top detachments in the nation.”

Hudson also said Air Force reserves are deployable at any time, while students in the ROTC program are not. Once students are commissioned  after they graduate, there is a four-year commitment unless they become a pilot or a navigator; that commitment is 10 years.

“We have leadership labs every Thursday for two hours during the school year, physical training twice a week and between our sophomore and junior year during summer, we go to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama for field training for a little over three weeks,” Hudson said. “At Maxwell, we get trained, get our leadership skills evaluated and we get thrown into a mock deployment.”

Mark Richards, a senior elementary education major, is the squadron commander and the regional director of operations for Arnold Air Society. He said he had always been interested in the Air Force because his grandfather was a part of it.

“The ROTC program provides us with a good hands-on experience right from the get-go and allowed me to learn better managerial skills, time management skills, as well as discipline, which can be adopted into other aspects of my life,” Richards said. “Students who are interested in the AFROTC should come and talk to us. Visit us at the Young House and speak to any of the officers there or students can call Captain Hansen, at Detachment 90, at 970-491-6476.”

Christopher Homa, senior political science major and the recruitment and Web site operator with the Army ROTC, said participants of the program are solely students and are not deployable until after graduation.

“Army is more combat-oriented, and Air Force fly over into combat zones,” Homa said. “Either way, the ROTC program teaches me discipline, drive and know-how to delegate duties effectively.”

Homa also said even though the military is not for everyone, students who are interested in the Army ROTC should attend the military science class to see