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Opinion

There is no shortage of willing soldiers

Phil Bossert
Guest Commentary 

With President Bush's recent announcement that we will deploy 21,000 additional troops into Iraq and make other changes to our wartime strategy, the question on the minds of university students is whether the draft will be brought back.

The draft won't be reinstated for two reasons. First, the draft ended officially in 1973 when the all-volunteer force was introduced. And second, the U.S. has plenty of young people of character, commitment and courage coming forward to serve our country during this critical time in history. Many of these young people are cadets in various ROTC programs.

Despite the challenges during this global war on terrorism, a war that is now 19 months longer than our involvement in World War II, there is good news.

We have a secure homeland. There has not been an attack on our country since 9/11, and as voters went to the polls in November, they did so without fear of a terrorist attack. 

We have an unchallenged military. Made up entirely of volunteers, our military is the most competent in the history of the world. I know this first hand, having been assigned to NATO while stationed in Germany just two years ago. The U.S. military simply has neither a peer competitor nor an emerging one in the near future.

Finally, the center is holding. Al Qaeda is failing in its key strategy of attempting to break the will of the American people. A good gauge of this is our young people. There has been no student unrest or mass demonstrations on university campuses. On the contrary, ROTC is more popular than ever and enjoys wide ranging support. 

What makes these young people join ROTC despite the seemingly endless commitment of U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan? We asked our cadets to write a top-ten list answering this question. Their answers are revealing. The reasons they joined Air Force ROTC include, in priority order:

To be Air Force officers and to serve their country, for the many challenges associated with ROTC, for the strict discipline and training, to receive scholarship money to pay their tuition, to learn leadership skills and apply these in practical situations, to form close-knit relationships that are common in the military, the challenging physical training program, to be a pilot or navigator, to be part of a university student organization, to continue their favorable experiences from Junior ROTC in high school.

I was pleasantly surprised at their priorities. Considering that most of our cadets are working their way through school, I expected the need for scholarships to be much higher on their list. 

These same students were asked to describe the ideal attributes of an Air Force second lieutenant and to read their descriptions is to understand more fully the thinking behind their first list: ethical, flexible, inquisitive, good communicator, selfless, humble, responsible, intelligent, creative, open-minded, a good leader and follower, effective listener, globally aware, able to multi-task and a people person.

As the national debate over our future in Iraq continues in earnest, it should be comforting to all Americans, especially to university students, that there is no shortage of quality young people who understand what is at stake and are willing to risk it all for the rest of us.

Clearly, another "greatest generation" is coming of age very quickly in an extremely violent world.

Col. Bossert, Commander of Air Force ROTC at UH, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu