At the time of this writing, my name is C/4C Jonesi. I am an IMT (Freshman) in AFROTC. I am trying to improve my PFT score by doing both PT and PST regularly. If you want to participate in ROTC, you’ll have to learn what all these things mean. But don’t worry, you will. If you want to join AFROTC detachment 440 here at MU, or anywhere, know that it won’t be easy. Know that sometimes it won’t be fun. But also know that if you put the right amount of effort into being the best future officer you can be, you will find it well worth it.
You’re not going to have the typical college experience. From the outset, you’ll have more pressures and responsibilities placed on you than the average freshman, and over time, more and more responsibility will be placed on you. All that being said, the Air Force isn’t going to throw anything at you that you won’t be able to catch, provided you’re paying attention.
First and foremost, you are responsible for yourself. That means you’re going to have to earn better grades than many of your peers, avoid underage drinking and illegal drugs like the plague, and don’t plan on gaining the freshman 15 or Mizzou 22, it will count against you in the Physical Fitness Test (PFT). The Air Force does not have a zero tolerance policy on fun; they just expect you to have a decent head on your shoulders, both inside and outside the classroom. Once you graduate, you could very well be responsible for millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, and more importantly, the safety and welfare of the taxpayers themselves, who place their trust in you.
In the meantime, it isn’t the distant taxpayers who will place their trust in you; it’s also the people you will encounter on an almost daily basis at AFROTC. The cadre will trust you because you’re the future of the organization that has very literally been their life and livelihood. Whether you succeed or fail is a reflection of how much use you have made of the lessons they have taught you. Your actions and attitude decide the success and failure of detachment 440 just as much as they decide your own.
Even more importantly is the trust your classmates place in you. The most important lesson AFROTC can teach you is how to work as part of a team and from the beginning it is the lesson you need to learn best. That means you have to learn how to depend on others and have them depend on you. No matter what major you are doing or what career you are seeking you must prepare for the eventuality of war. In combat, this lesson means the difference between life and death.
There are many different reasons why you might have decided to become a cadet. Maybe one or both of your parents have served and you want to follow in their footsteps. Maybe you are interested in the career and educational opportunities the Air Force has to give you. Still maybe you know that America is besieged on all sides by its enemies and you want to be part of its first line of defense in a future dominated by technology. For whatever reason, I hope that the Air Force gives you what you were looking for. I also hope that wherever your career takes you, you find out something new, and good, about yourself.
SAMUEL G. JONESI, C/4C, AFROTC
