ROTC eligibility testing, 2003, George Walker
From MemoryArchive
Who: George Walker What: ROTC Eligibility Screening When: 2003 Where: Waco and Fort Hood, Texas
I'm from Central Texas. Earlier this year, I opened up The Economist and saw a map of the United States that outlined which areas of the country had the highest military recruitment ratios. I was unsurprised when I saw that one of the areas with the highest rates of recruiting was Central Texas. I was unsurprised because I was a breath away from joining the military after high school.
My high school was one that encouraged seniors to apply to as many colleges and scholarships as was possible; "it gave us more options," was their reasoning. The Army recruiting officer had visited our school, and I had spoken with him. After I had spoken with him, I had spoken with my parents. Basically, I had decided that I would apply for a military scholarship- this was nonbinding, and If I received the scholarship, I could choose to accept it or decline it.
When I went to speak with the recruiter at school, I didn't have much time, because it was during "break," a 15 minute period in the beginning of the day afforded to the students in my high school. Basically, I asked him what I had to do, and he said pass a mental and physical test. The only problem was, he wasn't there to get scholarship applicants; he was there to get enlisted men, meaning not officer. (If you get a scholarship from the Army, you are trained as an officer, and after you complete your college degree, you go into the army as an officer.) So because I didn't have enough time to speak with him, we arranged an appointment, for roughly a week later in the recruiting office.
Fast forward to 3 days later. The recruiter is sitting in my driveway waiting for me to get home from school, 3 or 4 days before my appointment. I asked him if I had forgotten the correct time, and he answered no, he wanted to speak with my parents if that was alright. I said it was fine, but he was going to have to wait 3 more hours for my mom and about 8 more for my dad, because my mom is a nurse and my dad is a doctor, and they work weird hours. He basically said thanks, but no thanks, and that he would see me in the office in a few days. I agreed.
When I got to the office on the day that my appointment was on, the recruiter greeted me enthusiastically, and sat me down. The first thing he did was ask me why I was joining the Army. I answered that I wasn't sure if I was joining yet, I was just exploring my options. He sort of ignored this, and then took me to a back room of the recruiting office, where he asked me to prioritize about 12 different things, like "money" "adventure" "serving my country" "travel" and more that I can't remember. I prioritized them, and he seemed satisfied with my answer, and then he began to ask me about why I wanted to be an officer rather than an enlisted man. I hadn't been asked that before; it was sincerely a hard question to answer. It seemed arrogant to say I wanted to lead people, but at the same time I didn't want to say it was just for the money. I eventually told him it was because I thought I would be good at it. He asked why, and I said it was because I had been in the Boy Scouts for 8 years and that I was an Eagle Scout. Call me a dork if you want, but it seemed to make an impression on him. He told me that the Eagle Scout award was the only civilian award that is permitted on a military uniform.
Despite the fact that he liked that I was an Eagle Scout, he seemed pretty hostile to the idea of ROTC scholarships. He made it pretty clear when he said that he would respect an officer that had risen through the ranks more than an officer that was given his rank simply by going to college. He called the officers that become officers by rising through the ranks "mustangs." He added that in Vietnam, the officers that got "fragged" were the ones that went into ROTC. I told him that I would consider enlisting, but I also wanted to apply for an ROTC scholarship. At that point, he began ragging on the college experience in general, and told me that I could take college classes while I was in the Army. I listened to what he had to say, told him I would consider it, and asked to take the ASVAB, the test that determines what you would are qualified for in the Army. I took it, did well, and took the ROTC paperwork home to fill out.
I filled out the ROTC paperwork, and had to perform the physical part of the requirement. Unfortunately, the only way I could do so in the time frame permitted was by doing a physical training regimen with the Marines, which the Army would accept. I say its unfortunate because the Marine training is a lot more hardass than the Army. Anyway, The Marines made me run 3 miles in under 25 minutes, when the Army only required 1.5 in 15 or something like that. I'm not a good runner; I made the three miles in 24:20 and puked at the end of it. I also had to do a whole bunch of pull ups and situps, and my results were good enough for the Army.
After I filled out the ROTC paperwork and had fulfilled the physical test, I had to undergo a series of tests to determine if I was even eligible for ROTC. The tests that I had to undertake were at Fort Hood, Texas, one of the largest military installations in the United States. It was about 75 miles away, and I had to be there at 830 in the morning.
The morning of the tests, I woke up at 630 and drove down to Fort Hood from Waco, Texas. I got there, and had to undergo a heavy screening to even get into the base, which consisted of a huge machine X-raying my car, and a physical inspection of the trunk, as well as the review of my clearance that I had to get from a military official to enter the base. Once I got in, I had to go to the hospital.
At the hospital, I had to undergo three basic tests. The first was the Eye test, which I aced. I've had 20/20 my whole life, so I was OK there. The second test was the drug test. They gave me a little cup, and told me to go into a room and pee in it. I thought I was going to have some privacy, but when I went in the door, there was a Corporal sitting in a chair, with nothing else in the room. I asked him if I was in the right place to take the drug test, and he said yes. Then I asked if he was going to watch, and he said yes. It was strange, but I peed into the cup while he was watching, and that was that. Having passed the drug test, I went on to the general physical test. The doctor asked me the usual round of medical questions about allergies, diseases, seizures, asthma, and all that stuff. Then he told me to "drop trousers." I did, and he gave me the cough test to see if I had hernias. I didn't. After this test I left.
I passed all the eligibility tests, did well on the mental exam, and qualified. I was offered an ROTC scholarship, which I was extremely close to accepting, but I eventually didn't. If you want an ROTC scholarship, be prepared for low levels of privacy.
