THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 142
BROADCAST
TRAINING GROUNDS
KJHK wins big with 11 student awards
Student radio station KJHK won 11 awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. The station won seven first-place awards, including best public affairs program for "As Heard from the Hill."
FULL STORY PAGE 3A
POLITICS
81 University students prepare for life as Army officers after graduation
Rachel Anne Seymour/KANSAN
Rachel Anne Seymour/KANSA Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. speaks at the Lied Center Wednesday night.
Chief Justice Roberts lectures on court's role
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said being a judge meant putting aside personal opinions for the sake of upholding the letter of the law at a Lied Center lecture Wednesday night.
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© 2008 The University Daily Kansan
Cadet Virgil Barnard, Topeka senior, puts a rock drill into motion during a KU Army ROTC training day at Fort Riley on April 12. Barnard assigned soldiers to teams and let everyone know their role for the upcoming simulated missions.
STUDENTS TO SOLDIERS
BY ERIN SOMMER
esommer@kansan.com
Virgil Barnard is hunched over a small notepad near fallen branches in a wooded area when he hears the first shot. His mind is racing. He has minutes to communicate orders to his 10-man squad. Barnard and half of his men will leave their cover in the woods and run across an open area to gather intelligence for the commander back at base. But now the gunfire. He has to change his plans.
"Bound back 300 meters!" Barnard yells to squad members. They hit the ground and crawl away from the blasts. After he establishes that the group is safe, he tells the squad to reorganize and continue its mission.
Half the squad — the bravo team — defends its position and the other half — the alpha team — follows Barnard across the open area. One cadet screams that he's been hit.
Barnard calls for help, but medics reply that Barnard must secure the area before help can come.
The scene is an Army ROTC training exercise, where the guns are filled with blanks and the injuries are pretend. But the future for these University students is real. They've made commitments to the Army, and after they graduate and are commissioned as officers, they will likely head to Iraq or Afghanistan.
That reality is especially daunting given the location of their training — Fort Riley. The same week in April of these simulated
The same week in combat maneuvers, the Army reported that a soldier from the base was killed in Iraq, bringing the total number of fatalities from Fort Riley to 148.
Despite the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and the likelihood of serving there or in Afghanistan, the KU Army ROTC is growing — many recruits are
"It's sort of a double whammy of being in the middle of an unpopular war and having to bring more people in."
enrolling to take advantage of increased
Marla Keown/KANSAN
LT.COL.JOHN BASSO Battalion commander
Cadets take cover under a M-18 colored smoke grenade during ROTC training exercises. The grenade can be used as a ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling device, a target or landing zone marking device, or a screening device for unit movements.
funding for scholarships, serve their country and follow family traditions. The future officers, who are taught by faculty members who have all served in Iraq, accept service in hostile zones as a part of their choice to enroll and say their ROTC training should help them survive.
'THE BIG ELEPHANT IN THE CLOSET'
Despite the probability of real com
bat, Army ROTC enrollment has actually gone up, according to Major Ted Culbertson, recruiting operations officer for the program. He said that during the past two years, the number of cadets in the program has increased by almost 20. Currently, 81 cadets participate at the University in
Lt. Col. John Basso, battalion commander for KU Army ROTC, said he expected enrollment to be about 100 in the fall.
Culbertson and Basso said a recent increase in scholarship money, driven by a current need for Army officers, had spurred recruiting.
ing 19 who come from other area schools that don't have Army ROTC programs, such as Washburn University in Topeka and Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe.
"The Army is forecasting out and putting more scholarships out there," Culbertson said. "With that means, we can recruit a lot more."
Basso said the need for more Army officers and the increase in money for scholarships has everything to do with the war in Iraq.
"If we weren't in a war in Iraq, wed all be saying that our Army is plenty large," Basso said.
Basso said the Army was recently told that it needed to increase to 547,000 soldiers, up from 482.000 soldiers a few years ago. He said that, to date, about half of that increase had already happened.
Marla Keown/KANSAN
Virgil Barnard finishes his notes while acting as squad leader during a simulated combat mission.
"It's sort of a double whammy of being in the middle of an unpopular war and having to bring more people in," he said.
Of the 81 cadets enrolled in the program, 33 receive federal scholarships, which includes full tuition, $1,200 toward books, and a stipend of $300 to $500 per month, depending on the cadet's rank. An additional four cadets receive Kansas Board of Regents Scholarships, which pay up to 70 percent of tuition. To receive these scholarships, cadets must have a 2.5 cumulative GPA, have passing scores on physical fitness exams and be medically qualified. After they graduate and the Army commissions them as officers, the scholarships require an eight-year commitment — eight years of active duty or four years in active duty and four years in the National Guard or Army Reserve. Culbertson said several cadets also received scholarship money
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SEE CADETS ON PAGE 4A
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