In the past, Southeastern has had a link to the military community in some form or another. This included the increase in male students in the late 1940s from returning G.I.s after a victory in Europe to obtain a degree and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit that was present on campus until 1996, when the unit was disbanded.

However, Southeastern still offers students the chance to join a ROTC program via Louisiana State University’s Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) program.

The AFROTC program allows students who wish to do military service after college to still take classes, join a Greek organization and participate in regular campus activities. The only differences are the occasional days when students must wear uniforms, the choice of electives they take and a training program to condition cadets for future service.

“It’s a little bit like normal college except there’s a few things added on to it, like you’re still going to classes and all that regular kind of stuff, but a couple days of the week you have to wear military uniform,” said Jason Brewer, an AFROTC cadet and business junior. “Like on Mondays, we have to wear our blues, and then on Thursdays we have to wear our ABUs, which is camo.”

In addition to military related electives and the mandatory days of wearing uniform, ROTC cadets between their sophomore and junior years must attend field training at a military base.

“We shot M16 [assault rifles] and the M9 [pistol], but mostly it’s about leadership skills,” said Brewer. “They put you into a situation and see if you can do it, such as in convoys. It’s all simulated, but we use paintball guns and stuff like that in convoys and we use squad tactics and a lot of cool stuff like that. I have fun with it. I like doing stuff like that.”

Once cadets finish college, they will receive the rank of second lieutenant and are then required to serve a minimum of four years on active duty in the military with some career fields requiring more.

“I like flying, so this is an opportunity to try to become a pilot,” said Brewer. “You have to be an officer to fly, so that’s why I’m doing ROTC. When you graduate college, you get your commission as a second lieutenant. It allows you to do that and stay in class at the same time.”

The AFROTC also offers scholarships to students who are eligible with their ROTC In-College Scholarship Program geared towards freshmen and sophomores.

Students interested in the ROTC program can visit www.afrotc.com.