THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605270026
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 138 lines
Myrus Oliver figures he did more push-ups than anybody at ``boot camp'' last fall.
The Green Run High School freshman, a cadet in the school's Naval Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps Unit, admits he started with ``such a big head.'' And he didn't help himself by mistakenly calling a female corporal ``sir.''
For a week he and other cadets lived a teenager's nightmare - told when to eat, what to eat, when to sleep and when to get up. Between physical training, drilling, inspections and rappelling, he managed to sandwich in his share of push-ups. But Oliver, 15, said he'd gladly go back to Oceana Naval Air Station to repeat the experience.
``I want to show them how much I've improved,'' he said.
For two local NJROTC units, it would be hard to improve on what they achieved this year. The units at Green Run and at Princess Anne High School finished first and second respectively in the nation in a field meet last month. The event, which featured the best of NJROTC, was sponsored by the Hampton Roads Naval ROTC Unit. Participants had to finish first or second in their regional competition. Eighteen units qualified for the national competition, coming from as far as California to be judged on academics, athletics and military drill.
``It's hard work, it's dedication, it's love,'' said Cmdr. Thomas Meeker of the two schools' success. Meeker is area manager for NJROTC units in the District of Columbia and five states, including Virginia. Meeker said he can find no record of two schools in the same city ever winning first and second before.
Since 1964, Naval Junior ROTC has been offered in U.S. secondary schools, expanding to more than 400 units in the fall. The idea behind the program is not recruitment, Navy leaders say, but the opportunity to instill patriotism, citizenship and personal honor among young people.
Along with the units at Green Run and Princess Anne, the Beach offers NJROTC at First Colonial High School and, beginning next year, at Salem High School. Students from other Beach schools can seek an out-of-zone transfer to participate in the program. It is also offered in Norfolk high schools.
In a military community, it would be easy to lose sight of how much these young people have achieved. But spending time around them leaves indelible images of who they are and why they get up early to drill, stay late to study and believe in the program even if they have no intentions of joining the Navy.
A petite 15-year-old with the face of an angel and a voice that could shatter brick when she barks ``Attention on DECK!'' Cadets who stand in asphalt-melting midafternoon sun, endlessly spinning non-firing, 9 1/2-pound rifles. Young men with close-cropped hair, no visible earrings and the extraordinary habit of calling all females over the age of 20 ma'am.
They talk about things like leadership, integrity, discipline and team work.
``Every cadet who comes in here, even though they emphasize unit and group loyalty, there's something they do here that brings out the best in people, it's dignity,'' said Princess Anne High School senior and Cadet Ensign Stuart Perkins.
``You don't have to be a good driller or a rigid Marine. You don't have to have a buzz cut or march around all the time. There's a lot more to it than that.''
Instructors say such personal growth is much more important than winning a life-time commitment to the military from the young people they lead.
``I want them to see the relationship between hard work and success. This is just a vehicle,'' said Green Run naval science instructor Charles ``Bud'' Futch, a retired Navy captain. ``That's the lesson I think that's most important.''
``It's to teach citizenship and that's kind of the bottom line,'' said PA naval science instructor Tom McNicholas, also a retired Navy captain.
Futch estimates about 75 percent of his students go on to the military. This year, Green Run had 125 cadets. McNicholas said about half the cadets at PA join the military after high school. His unit had 150 cadets this year.
The local cadets train throughout the year for various contests. As part of the program, they wear their uniform to school once each week, attend a naval science class that covers everything from military history to oceanography, and work to rise through the ranks of their unit to lead the different teams within it or to run it as cadet officers. They participate in community service and summer programs as well.
Ebony Reaves, a Green Run senior and captain of the unit's athletic team, said she joined NJROTC for the opportunities it offered.
``They give everybody a chance to be a leader,'' she said. ``They give you more responsibility and trust at this age than anybody else would.''
Reaves begins Marine boot camp in September.
Green Run academic team commanding officer Alan Tubman, a junior, said he hoped NJROTC would give him an edge when it came time to apply for college and become involved in ROTC there, but he's gotten much more.
``Instead of a follower, I've become more of a leader,'' he said.
Some students, like PA's outgoing commanding officer Ross Vierra, grow up in military families and are inexorably drawn to ROTC.
``I've loved the military since I was a kid,'' said Vierra, who will join the Corps of Cadets and ROTC at Virginia Tech in the fall. ``I saw ROTC as a door into a career I wanted.''
Others see it as redemptive.
``I was a bad kid, always in trouble, getting grounded. I was looking for a little self-discipline and I got it,'' said Green Run's outgoing commanding officer Brian Boger. ``I got involved with drill team. That got my attention, watching these guys spin rifles. You have to move as one. You can't scratch when you're itchy. You can't adjust your pants when they're falling down.''
``That's discipline.''
Boger begins Marine Corps boot camp eight days after graduation.
Both Futch and McNicholas said being in a military community provides them with vast resources they might not have otherwise - from guest speakers to endless possibilities for field trips to service men and women who train the older cadets to train the younger cadets in their units.
``If we were in Iowa and I said `We have a free weekend, let's arrange a ship visit' it wouldn't be so easy,'' said McNicholas.
``Almost everything we teach, we can take them out into the field for hands-on,'' said Futch. ``And that's where the real learning takes place.''
While both units have a strong nucleus of cadets from military families, knowing the ins and outs of military life first-hand can discourage some kids from the program. For those who do choose to participate, however, there is an intense camaraderie and the type of friendships that can be built only by shared experience, commitment and jointly won praise.
Dawn Thompson, a PA junior, joined NJROTC with plans to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and become a Navy lawyer. Her focus has shifted now, however, to attending a school other than a service academy and to becoming a teacher.
Still, Thompson said the skills she's learned won't be wasted or lost. She lists abilities she expects to walk away with after serving as the unit's public affairs officer next year.
``Teamwork, building on strengths, helping with weaknesses, accepting differences.''
And when others look at her, Thompson believes they will see, ``I had four years in ROTC. That shows commitment and progress.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Cadet Lt. j.g. James Kleeberger stands ramrod straight before other
cadets of the 2nd Platoon during the Princess Anne High School
NJROTC change of command ceremony Tuesday. The school won second
place in national competition in April.
Cadet Lt. Cmdr. Nathaniel Clark, right, takes command of the
Princess Anne cadets from outgoing Cadet Lt. Cmdr. Ross Vierra.
Color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot
Brian Boger, 18, departing NJROTC commanding officer at Green Run
High School, checks a rifle during a drill.
KEYWORDS: NAVAL JUNIOR ROTC NAVAL JUNIOR RESERVE OFFICERS'
TRAINING CORPS UNIT by CNB