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Sarahi Garcia

ENGL 1301-163

Professor Briones

12 September 2021

ROTC Community

What is Army ROTC

In ROTC there is more to show and give than people think. It is a place where you learn

self-discipline and respect to others. You have PT in the morning and Labs every Wednesday.

PT is physical training to boost your stamina. It is also a community where people learn how to

work with each other and push one another. They don’t leave you behind, you will always have a

battle buddy to help you when you can’t stand. It is also a place where you get to meet friendly

people and joke around if allowed. It is a community where anyone can join and give it there all.

They do not give up on you even if your physically weak because they want to take out the best

of you. The only requirements that they will be expecting from a new companion is to be there

on military time and to push hard to a goal. Military time is arriving to a designated area 15

minutes earlier than designated time.

Morning discipline and labs

(On the right you can see where we are wearing APFU’S.)

Every morning I had to wake up at 4:30am in the morning to

get my equipment and my self ready. I would arrive at Texas A&M

Internatiol University at 5:45am and get everything set and fixed with

the other cadets. We would start working on our physical condition at

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6:00am and finish at 7:00am or 7:15am. Every Thursday we had rucking, that is when we wear

complete uniform and run 3 miles under 15 minutes. It was a struggle, but PT was every

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. When we would finish, we would feel drained but

then feel relieved afterwards. Every Wednesdays we

had labs. In the labs we would go behind the library and

practice commands even if it was sizzling hot outside.

We also go to United South for the Marines obstacle

course. We always try to give our all in the end. We put

an extra effort in the end. In your right is a cadet with combat uniform.

Uniform

We wore OCP’s operational camouflage pattern uniform. We

had to wear a shirt under and make sure our pants are inside our

combat boots and secure our PT belts. We also need to wear our PC

patrol caps outside and take them off inside. When we would go

rucking, we needed our: 2 sustainment pouches, one ruck with 25 pounds in it, green long socks,

FLC fighting load carrier and our two canteens with water. For normal PT physical training we

had to wear either APFU’s or the black shorts with TAMIU ROTC shirt. We always needed the

correct uniform. On the right is a picture of all of the cadets with their Texas A&M International

University ROTC uniform.

Respect and Self progress

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If you did not respect other people because of race, gender, or color well here you must

put those childish feelings aside and respect everyone the same way you want to be respected

because they do not take no one’s childish acts. You will also see that you will be improving in

your own physical form and stamina. You will be surprised as you go on and see all the things

you can do. You will also start noticing that you eat healthier and respecting your own body.

You don’t notice it but as time goes, you do, and you will get a happy feeling of

accomplishment.

Fun but in control

Even if it sounds like it is to much or hard it is quite fun and liberating at times and the

people in it are friendly and fun. As you get to meet them you will notice how great it is to be

somewhere where you feel like you belong. You could be joking for 3 minutes then out of

nowhere you will have to be in attention and ready to begin. You also get to go out and eat after

a great day of work with all the cadets not the captain though because it is seen as disrespectful.

Pushing each other to reach your goals

They will always be there for support and will try to make you reach your goal and get to

your limits. When I first started of on the first day of rucking, I could not make it in 15 minutes,

but they still went back and cheered me on to give it my all in the end. To push myself and put

extra effort in the end. They will look out for you as they look out for anyone else. They are

understanding and still want to be there for you. I had to get out because of my schedule but they

still support me and said that if I want to work on my PT I can just go when I have the time.

Also, if I need any help in academics, they are there for me. I truly hope that this makes you see

people from ROTC differently in a good way and not as weak or childish students.
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Work Cited

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMhS8izhOXG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvcUh_lnglJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Author, S. G. "ROTC Community" 20 Sept. 2021. English 1301-163, Texas A&M

International University, student paper