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American Morning

ROTC Back in Vogue

Aired December 03, 2001 - 09:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Across college campuses, in the '60s, ROTC programs came under fire, and some were actually thrown out, but that was during Vietnam. But this is the anti-terrorist era, and there are new times with new views, and ROTC is back in vogue.

CNN's Jeff Flock is standing by at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb as ROTC cadets attend a military science class.

So, Jeff, you graduated from the physical part of that earlier this morning and moved on to the classroom.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think I may able better off with my head than my body. We finished our push-ups and sit-ups this morning. So did a lot of the people. A lot of the folks in class right now still have some sweat on their brow from this morning. But we are trying to get in their heads this morning. We are talking about how this attitude has changed toward the ROTC program on campus. What been like since September 11th?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since September 11th, it seems like around campus, you have more admiration, more general appreciation from the students coming up to you, saying thanks, we appreciate what you are doing.

FLOCK: I've got to ask, why did you get into ROTC in the first place?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I joined it because I, you know, I saw a challenge, and I wanted something after college, and I knew this was a guarantee for me.

FLOCK: Anybody think they bit off more than they can chew out here after September 11th? I mean, we're talking to a class of juniors. And in maybe two years' time, maybe you wind up in a place like Afghanistan or somewhere else. How does that sit with you know?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, I'm really concentrating on school. Perhaps when the time gets closer, I will be a little bit more concerned. I am just concentrating on school right now.

FLOCK: How closely are people watching what is going on overseas right now? Obviously, a lot of people in the country more closely, but people that are potentially on a frontlines at some point. How closely are you watching? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pay close attention. I think my experience in ROTC has given me a better understand of what they are talking about when they go into details about what's happening over there. So it's interesting to me to see what our solders are doing and what our armed forces are doing in general.

FLOCK: I want to give our viewer some sense of the numbers, and you talked, Paula, about how ROTC programs faded for a while. Actually I think 1990 was the high point. In Army, ROTC, 40,000 Army cadets, and then in the Air Force, about 20,000, and the Navy and Marines, about 10,000. Those numbers have shrunk. Of course, those were pre-Cold War and numbers, and so they shrunk but are now kind of inching back up again. You sense some more interest in ROTC out there on the campus?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this campus, I can't really tell you. I don't know as far as that goes. I mean, people ask about the program. They see us around campus, and they say, oh, wow this is nice. You guys are going out to classes, doing different things. So there is an appreciation after September 11th more than that.

FLOCK: Has September 11th changed the mission in anybody's minds here? I mean, obviously we've gone from the Cold War, when that was a clear mission, to a more numerous mission, and now perhaps a mission against terrorism. How does that sit with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a mission of vengeance or anything. It's going to be, what they want me to do. That's what we signed up for, you know. If they tell us to do something, we are going to go do it. That's not our choice.

FLOCK: Any sense of what you will do when you wind up out there, because you will wind up, what, second lieutenant, commission second lieutenant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, second lieutenant. We'll see how that goes.

FLOCK: I was also asking maybe if we can get a wide shot here so I can see hands on people who want to make the Army a career. How many ROTC students want to make the Army a career?

I've got to ask, what motivates you to do that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just, well, I've really appreciated it since high school. I've wanted to join. I joined before, and then I came to college. Afterwards I got off basic training AIT, and it's really something that I got a taste of that, and I came to college and decided that I wanted to do that afterward also.

FLOCK: Well, as you can sense now, there are a lot more people that are grateful for your commitments out among the populous. We appreciate your -- sergeant, appreciate your letting us interrupt your class this morning, get inside the heads of the men and women who will be leading our armed forces in the future. That's the latest from here on the campus of Northern Illinois University. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com