JROTC Veterans Day Ceremony

[richhodg66]

For any who don't know me, I retired from the Army recently and took a job as a Junior ROTC instructor in a high school nearby. Because Veterans Day falls on Sunday this year, we did our observance of it Friday morning. Though it was heavily a JROTC lead, we had great participation from our band and also our school singers who did the best job on the National Anthem I think I ever heard. There's a lot of good kids out there and I really needed something like this to lift my spirits after that election Tuesday.

The local news stations actually showed up and did some kind of nice coverage of it, which suprised me a bit. Hopefully, I'll post this link correctly.

http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Students-At-Topeka-West-High-Honor-Their-Veterans-178206951.html

[Olevern]

Thank you for your service to our country and also for your work with our youth.

[eveready]

It looks to me that you're doing a great job with those kids, keep up the good work and thanks for your service.

[foxtrotter]

I took JR ROTC in HS as did my son and grandsons. The younger grandson ended up getting a full ride ROTC scholarship to the University of Nevada and will graduate this spring with a BS in computer engineering and be commissioned a 2nd Lt. He will be assigned to the Signal Corps. I think it is a great program.

[Hamish]

Rich, very pleased to see JROTC still alive and helping to mold young people. Well done sir. Shared to FB.

[richhodg66]

It is keeping me real busy, but I honestly do find it very rewarding. I did it all four years in high school in the early 80s, then my oldest son did it for four years, which is what inspired me to look into it. So I guess I've come full circle with JROTC; cadet, parent and instructor.

There are a lot of kids out there who have the potential to be very good kids, they just need a little guidance and many a boost to their self confidence. Many aren't getting it at home, and it's really suprising sometimes to see how many of them really are craving it. I feel pretty good about doing this and the pay is pretty decent for a guy with a basic education and no real hard skills either.

One thing is interesting; we recognized all the veterans on the school faculty and staff. Of maybe 120-130 employees at the school, there are seven veterans. Breaking that down, two are JROTC instructors, so it's a prerequisite for the job. Two more are janitors, and one is the school nurse. So we're only talking two teachers who have ever served (and this is in a relatively conservative part of the country). No wonder kids don't even think about the military as a viable thing to do with their lives. I realize that the military is not the only way to being a good citizen, but I do think we have lost a lot in ociety when so few have a connection with the military.