In the United States, a small liberal arts university in Buffalo, Canisius College offers an award winning Registered Officer Training Corps(ROTC) program. It’s a private college run by the Jesuits and as part of its regular curriculum it offers a variety of courses to educate officer cadets for the US Army. In the US system students enrolled in the ROTC receive instruction in these special courses from military officers attached to the school and these courses contribute to the student’s degree. However the majority of their courses are non-military and taught by regular faculty, enabling the university to influence the military leaders of the future.
Attendance in these courses greatly defrays the normal cost of tuition, which is $28,000. per year. The program introduces freshmen and sophomores to a variety of military subjects providing students with an opportunity to learn about and engage with the military. After their sophomore they are expected to commit to serve as an officer for 5 years upon graduation.
Rob and the crew accompanied the Canisius ROTC students on several exercises including a 3 day field exercise at the Pennsylvania National Guard training site in Fort Indiantown Gap. It’s a huge facility in a wooded valley with barracks, tank storage, helicopters and firing ranges for missiles and machine guns.
The young men and women were divided into small teams to better evaluate leadership in exercises relating to survival, orienteering and communication while setting out to accomplish their command and control objectives.
Rob found very different terrain and accents but similar enthusiasms to what they saw in Cambridge. “After a 7 day shoot I was struck by the parallels between the students in the US and Britain, really impressed by their confidence and capability, accomplishing these courses on top of their regular degree subjects, these are really outstanding young people.”
Things like excellence in time management and self discipline are the norm with these college kids, a much different skill set than many students learn away from home. Both in the US and Britain, conversations revealed that many of these students were unsure of themselves and lacked self confidence before entering the program. Bright, athletic, challenging themselves to be better, the outgoing young women in particular seemed like stars revelling in the opportunity to take charge.
To see if there were insights for a renewed COTC Program in Canada the production team needed to know how the relationship between the university and the military works. Both the American model and British models are expensive in terms of military manpower and resources but the costs are borne out of a national recognition that these programs serve to connect the next generation of military leaders with their communities. In Canada it would go a long way to ensure that our officers are as reflective of Canadian culture as possible. The production continues with more video research yet to be done in the US.
On the horizon, the 7 Year Project will investigate the Australian OTC system and their unique approach, connecting reserve regiments directly to a university and faculty, it`s an exciting mixture of the British and American systems with an Australian twist. To Rob popular suspicions about the military on campus are both dated and unfounded and in the long run could be very costly.
“If leadership constitutes human capital, then Canada is not investing enough to take advantage of the opportunity to train and teach leadership and citizenship to youth.” And for Rob it’s a problem worth addressing. |
