By Matt Evans

The Army ROTC will showcase what the army has to offer with a static display on Aug. 22 at Parkway Field. The display will include some of the army’s top weapon systems, which include a state-of-the-art tank, an attack helicopter and an M-16 machine gun simulator.

From 3-5 p.m., there will be officers on hand to explain how the weapon systems on both vehicles operate and how they fit into a scheme of different weapon systems.This Aug. 22 event, along with other activities performed by ROTC, will be shot for a video to be distributed for recruiting. U of L got picked because of the close proximity to the film crew’s base, Ft. Knox.

That’s not to say this ROTC unit is on the rocks recruiting-wise. To the contrary, they’re doing quite successful. “This year it’s phenomenal,” Captain Jerry Grey said. “We’re anticipating over 60 freshmen enrolled.”Lt. William B. McElroy adds: “We’re doubling the enrollment from 43 to 90 currently enrolled.”McElroy attributes this to the army recruiters’ effort, but also what universal skills the army has to offer: “You’re put in situations where you’re put with different environment. In the garrison, you train on different skills and student or cadets are training those skills. In the field exercises, different people are put in leadership positions. In the classroom, they’re taught the characteristics of leadership and how to deal with people.”

Furthermore, McElroy says, the ROTC teaches its members time management skills and how to deal with people in a variety of situations.The army’s recruiting improved, some say, because of a more diverse pool of cadets in recent years. “The motto has changed to ‘the army of one,'” Lt. BJ Van Meter said. “That drops all barriers with sex and race. The opportunity to excel is there. Sex or race does not matter. There’s formal instruction for officers about equal opportunity and fair treatment.”

The comradely and the feeling of responsibility brings a lot of cadets to the ROTC, many current cadets pointed out.”I was very undisciplined in high school; they straightened me out,” said cadet Jerry Selvers, a senior nursing major from Beaver Creek, Ohio. “I got a lot of responsibility as well. I realized that you don’t always blame other people. You have to recognize when you’re the problem. The camaraderie is really good. You make a lot of friends.”

Ann Robinson, a junior nursing major from Cincinnati, Ohio, said that she likes it because it gives her a chance to go to Bellarmine for free and take military science courses at U of L. “The main thing I liked is that whenever I came here I had three or four people that I had something immediately in common with,” she said.