ROTC
Fishducky
recently blogged about her Husband, Bud, being an officer in the army after
going through ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corp) in college.
My first
year in college I learned that ROTC was required for two years. Even if you had no intention of serving in
the army, freshman and sophomores were required to take ROTC.
I had no
idea. I did not like the idea.
I had enough
trouble with calculus for dummies, a required course in religion and a foreign language;
all subjects liberal arts students had to take and that I never expected to use.
I really did not want to learn to march,
salute and shoot. Remember “Animal
House?”
It turned
out that before entering college my doctor gave me a physical exam which showed
I had a heart murmur. The college
physician gave me a test and could not find a heart murmur, and none has ever
been detected since. Still he gave me a
choice of skipping ROTC and taking gym instead.
I opted for
gym.
Our gym
class enrollees were all ROTC rejects.
We took archery, which I sucked at, constantly ripping my arm with the
bow string, golf, basketball and football.
I was a decent athlete in high school; I should have excelled in this
group of diabetics, fat people and cripples.
I was ok,
but the best athlete in the group was a kid with one and a half arms, the
result of a thalidomide pregnancy. How
this kid could shoot an arrow, swing a golf club, and catch a football with one
arm and a flipper was amazing. His basketball
skills were incredible. He could fire up
a swish from anywhere on the court and dribbled circles around the defense.
I never
learned to shoot an arrow, I am still only an average golfer, in football I
could block but not catch and throw. As
a basketball player I perfected the air-ball.
I didn’t
learn to march, salute, or shoot a gun, but I sure did learn to respect the
incredible things a handicapped person can do when he sets his mind to it.
Probably one
of the best lessons I learned in college.
