• Sallisaw High School

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BIOG: NAME: UPD: 19970226 -TEXT- Not long ago, military programs and personnel in public schools were welcomed about as much as a live hand grenade or a runaway tank. How times have changed. These days, Oklahoma educators can't get enough of the direction and discipline; spit and polish; straight backs, eyes front and mouths closed; flag waving, drill teaming and sharp shooting; yes sirs and no sirs - all the traits that soldiering attempts to bring to thousands of public high school students.

'We're sort of a gang, but we're a good gang, because we stick together for the right reasons,' said LaRhonda Beane, 17, a senior and Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) cadet at Oklahoma City's Southeast High School. The statewide trend of military influence in public education is burgeoning and unmistakable: - More than 4,600 Oklahoma high school students belong to 33 JROTC units representing all military branches: Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.

Nationwide, there are 3,000 JROTC units with 357,670 members. All Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Lawton public high schools have JROTC units. In Oklahoma City, 18 percent of all public high school students are enrolled in JROTC; the national average is 13 percent. The Air Force JROTC unit at Oklahoma City Southeast High School won first place for best overall new JROTC school at a recent national drill in Alabama. The Oklahoma Army National Guard operates the Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor to help potential high school dropouts discover self-discipline, their niche in life, and future employment. At 11 schools in the Oklahoma City area, Tinker Air Force Base has placed 144 military and civilian personnel to tutor local schoolchildren in mathematics and science.

Lawton's Fort Sill brings on base 150 seventh-graders four times a year for a weekend known as 'Wings of Eagles' - a program that encourages and educates students to achieve success in life by remaining drug free, avoiding gang involvement and staying in school. On the college level, Reserve Officers' Training Corps units at the University of Oklahoma in Norman and Oklahoma State University in Stillwater are considered some of the best in the United States. Yet, it's the phenomenal growth of JROTCs that has caught the attention of educators statewide. In 1991, there were eight JROTCs in Oklahoma with about 1,100 cadets.

Since, both the number of units and cadets have increased by about 400 percent, said Al Ginsberg, administrator of JROTC programs for the Oklahoma City public school district. Student aimlessness, lack of self-discipline, gangs and the breakup of the family prompted the federal government and local school officials to find the resources and retired military necessary to start additional JROTC units. 'Part of my job is to divert students from the drug culture and the gang culture' and 'get them interested in a structured environment that gives them personal recognition and a sense of worth,' said retired Maj. Max Mears, head of the Army JROTC at Oklahoma City Douglass High School.

'If you join and stay in JROTC, you'll be a different person between your freshman and senior year,' Mears said. Educators claim that graduation rates go up and discipline problems go down because of strong JROTCs in their high schools. 'Many young students are looking for something else, and we think we're that something else they're looking for,' Mears said.

Unit commanders say they frequently hear from school counselors, teachers and parents who praise JROTCs for creating order in high schools and instilling discipline and values in teen-agers. A potential dropout with no clue which way to go in life, Sapulpa High School senior Jeremy Baker, 19, now wants to become 'one of the few and the proud' after joining the school's Marine JROTC. 'I cannot even begin to tell you what this program has meant to me.

It's the best thing that has ever happened to me,' Baker said. 'If this program was not here, I would probably have dropped out of school by now, and not to mention all the other mistakes I would have made.' Western Heights High School sophomore William Feliciano, 16, says he used to be an unfocused, tough 'macho kind of guy' before joining the school's Navy JROTC. 'It took guts' to put himself under his unit's disciplinary code, but Feliciano now admits, 'I've changed.' Freshman Richard Delgado, 15, and other cadets refer to their Western Heights' Navy JROTC unit as 'a big family' where 'everybody watches out for each other.

'I came from a rough neighborhood. My cousins were in gangs, but I didn't want to be in a gang, I wanted to stay out of danger,' he said. The challenge then became discipline, respect and physical fitness. As part of the Western Heights JROTC color guard, Delgado carries the Canadian flag at select Oklahoma City Blazers home hockey games. He can do 52 push-ups in less than two minutes. But JROTCs, while gaining respect at their schools, are hardly for everyone, educators say. 'The military is for some and certainly not for others.

We lose cadets after the first semester' when they get tired of having to cut their hair, do physical training and wear their uniforms once a week, acknowledged retired Marine Maj. Software to convert pdf into word. Jerry Swepston in Sapulpa. 'We don't 'boot camp' our students, but they have to adopt to discipline and respect for other individuals,' Swepston said.

And students not in JROTC can be cruel. 'At first, other students used to laugh at us in our uniforms,' said Rebecca Ash, 17, a Western Heights senior and Navy JROTC company commander. Many students at Oklahoma City's U.S. Grant High School used to mock Marine cadets, but that didn't bother cadet Sgt. Ashley Crandalo, 16.

The JROTC 'has helped me a lot with self-confidence and views of right and wrong, and made be a better person,' she said. Crandalo initially thought JROTC was strictly for guys. But in units statewide, females account for 35 percent to 49 percent of cadets in the military-related high school programs. Minorities also are well represented. Grant Marine cadet Diana Stempert said she thinks JROTC should be a requirement for all high school freshman because so many students at that age have 'behavior and attitude problems.' Tony McBroom, 16, a Tulsa Rogers High School sophomore, said joining his Army JROTC has helped improve his grades from D's to B's and 'has allowed me to show respect for a lot more people.'

The city area's first JROTC unit, a Navy outfit, was started at Oklahoma City Capitol Hill High School in 1986. In 1992, though, President Bush and Gen. Colin Powell, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, convinced Congress to pump $50 million into JROTC and college-level ROTC units nationwide despite plans to downsize active military units. Now, $2.6 million a year is spent statewide on JROTC instructional salaries and unit operational costs. Each unit has a commander and one or two noncommissioned officers.

All personnel are retired from the service. Oklahoma JROTC unit commanders stress that their programs aren't designed to recruit students into the military, but instead they are structured to bring direction and discipline to mostly inner-city youths. While teaching basic military skills, JROTC programs tend to focus primarily on developing good citizenship, patriotism, communications skills, leadership and teamwork. Cadets also are taught first aid, and other basic life skills.

The motto of Oklahoma City JROTCs is 'to motivate young people to be better Americans' and 'instill in secondary educational institutions the values of service, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment.' Specific service branches have their own particular curriculum guides. Air Force JROTC cadets, for example, are taught aerospace science, principles of navigation, space technology, meteorology and civil aviation. JROTC classes are taken for high school 'elective' credits, and students usually meet for one hour daily unless they are on a block schedule. Cadets can work their way up the ranks.

In Air Force JROTCs, cadets start as airmen and can reach the title of group commander. Sets of uniforms, including standard fatigues and dress apparel, are supplied by unit commanders. Lawton's Fort Sill, for example, helps provide students with Army uniforms.

Cadets perform at school functions and athletic events. And they frequently conduct community service projects. Jenks' JROTC cadets go door-to-door on select Saturdays collecting items for the Jenks Food Bank. 'We're not here to recruit students or to teach militarism. We're here to teach self-respect, self-discipline, teamwork and leadership,' retired Air Force Lt. Wayne Wilbanks said.

His Jenks' unit consists of a mixture of National Merit Scholars, a co-captain of the football team, cheerleaders and academically at-risk students, said Wilbanks, who wants to expand JROTC units into middle schools in the Tulsa area. At Oklahoma City Southeast, students have renovated a building that houses Oklahoma Citizens Caring for Children, and have taken wheelchair-bound senior citizens to the Oklahoma City Zoo. For Southeast junior Travis Long, 16, the JROTC 'has put everything in my life into perspective' as he juggles school, military classes and a retail sales job after school. 'I've learned more about myself and the world around me,' he said. Once shy and introspective, Southeast senior Kimberly Myles, 17, has used her JROTC experience 'to build my confidence and self-discipline' and make better decisions. Southeast sophomore Felix Martinez, 16, said he admired JROTC members 'because of how they carried themselves' and the fact that 'they were so proud of who they are.'

'I've raised my self-esteem. I can certainly accomplish more if I set my mind to it,' he said. Retired Air Force Col. Jack Cross said this of his Midwest City High School JROTC unit: 'We're a wholesome program where students can learn about themselves.

We're the place where a lot of kids have a place to belong.' Said Midwest City High School Principal Rita Morgan, 'Our unit provides students a sense of identity and of belonging.'

Sallisaw High School

Retired Marine Maj. Dennis Weber estimates that half of U.S. Grant Marine cadets in Oklahoma City come from broken homes. The JROTC unit he commands gives those students role models and gets them off the streets. 'I love working with the kids, watching them grow and mature. A little bit of structure can help them get through high school,' he said.

Archive ID: 674605.

The JROTC Cadet Creed I am an Army Junior ROTC Cadet. I will always conduct myself to bring credit to my family, country, school and the Corps of Cadets. I am loyal and patriotic. I am the future of the United States of America. I do not lie, cheat or steal and will always be accountable for my actions and deeds. I will always practice good citizenship and patriotism.

I will work hard to improve my mind and strengthen my body. I will seek the mantle of leadership and stand prepared to uphold the Constitution and the American way of life. May God grant me the strength to always live by this creed. Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) is a congressionally mandated program that focuses on the youth-oriented mission “Motivating Young People to be Better Citizens”.

It is one of the largest youth programs in the world with more than 310,000 high school students participating annually while enrolled in over 1,700 secondary educational programs and encompasses a myriad of teaching goals focused on leadership, teamwork, character education, personal responsibility, a sense of accomplishment, and service to the nation. Two of the most important assets for JROTC are the Cadets/students and the nearly 4,000 instructors who lead, guide, and mentor their Cadets. Because of the significance of the mission, United States Army Cadet Command (USACC) has established an enhanced means of communicating both within the command and externally through the U.S. Army JROTC Web Portal.

The Web Portal provides the media for JROTC Cadets and instructors to connect to the world and for the world’s public audience to communicate with the Army JROTC program. The JROTC Web Portal is a dynamic communications tool that has both a public side and a Private side. The public side provides access to general information on the JROTC Program and news about our Cadets, while the private side is reserved for our instructors. Instructors have access to the following web pages: Education & Curriculum with such items as Distance Learning, Curriculum On-line, Education Technology, Textbooks, Accreditation, and other items of interest; Instructor Management which includes Instructor Pay, CNACI, Interview Course Skills, etc; Training & Operations which includes JSOCC Courses, Co-Curricular Events, Logistics, Marksmanship & Safety program, Institute of Heraldry, etc; Automation to include Lifecycle Replacement program, JUMS, and JCIMS.

Recent changes to the JROTC Web Portal have enhanced its appearance, accessibility, and ease of locating items of interest. We are committed to continuing improvements to make it even more professional and convenient. Please email the JROTC Web Developer to provide feedback and comments on how we can make the JROTC Web Portal a better tool for your use. Thank you for all that you do for our nation.