Stacy Gibson hadn’t decided on a career when she joined the Army Junior ROTC (JROTC) unit at Kirtland (N.M.) Central High School two years ago. But she knew she was curious about the military.

 “My dad [Lt. Cmdr. James Gibson, USPHS] is in the commissioned corps, and I just thought military stuff was kind of cool, so I signed up for the class,” she says. 

Gibson excelled in the program during the next two years, participating in the battalion’s drill team and instructing students. Her hard work didn’t go unnoticed by members of the Totah (N.M.) Chapter, who support the program at her high school. In May 2003, Cmdr. Ed Marquez, USN-Ret., recognized Gibson as the outstanding cadet in her unit and presented her with an MOAA JROTC medal and certificate of achievement on behalf of his fellow chapter members.

Now a high school senior, Gibson is uncertain whether her asthma will keep her from having a career in the military. However, she does credit the program for helping expand her horizons. 

“It’s been a really good thing for us because it’s kind of shown us what’s actually going on out in the world instead of our little high school image of everything,” she says. “I feel a lot more confident now with people at my school and in general.”

Universal appeal 

Supporting students who participate in ROTC or JROTC programs is the most popular community outreach project undertaken by MOAA council and chapter members—and with good reason. These programs don’t require a lot of money or manpower to support, and they allow chapter members to fulfill their mission of promoting patriotism and instilling a positive image of the military in their communities. 

The programs also help unify chapters with a diverse membership base. Because the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps operate their own ROTC and JROTC programs, a chapter can support several units operated by different service branches.

Supporting ROTC and JROTC units also offers chapter members a chance to give back. Many MOAA members owe their careers to college and university ROTC programs, which provide the educational and leadership skills needed to become successful officers. 

Other chapter members have ties to high school JROTC programs, which don’t obligate participants to serve in the military but focus on promoting good citizenship, responsibility, and leadership in young people. In fact, many JROTC instructors are retired military officers—and members of a local MOAA chapter. 

Members of the Totah (N.M.) Chapter maintain a close connection to the JROTC programs they support thanks to chapter member Maj. David Stock, USA-Ret., an Army JROTC instructor at Farmington (N.M.) High School. When Stock moved to the area in 1996, only two schools in northwestern New Mexico had JROTC programs. 

“We helped [Stock] by donating $500 [a year] for a couple of years so he could keep things rolling, and several of the other veterans’ associations in the area also provided assistance,” says Totah Chapter President Lt. Col. Al Garcia, USA-Ret. “He set up a Junior ROTC program that was exemplary, which made it easier for him to get other schools to accept and sponsor Army Junior ROTC programs.”

During the next few years, four new Army JROTC units were added in area high schools. Like many JROTC programs, the units attract many minority and female students. In fact, the chapter supports an all-Navajo Marine Corps JROTC unit at Shiprock (N.M.) High School, where it is the school’s most popular program. 

Today, the 48-member Totah Chapter supports six JROTC units—about 820 students—and is starting a scholarship fund that will assist college-bound JROTC cadets. Chapter members hope to raise $10,000 for the fund and already have collected $3,200.

“I’d say 80 percent of my kids either go into the military or on to college,” says Stock. “There’s no other program in the nation that can say 80 percent of [its] graduates are going somewhere in their lives.”

Strong in the South

The South has more ROTC and JROTC programs than any other region in the United States. MOAA councils and chapters in the South have been stalwart supporters of these programs.

Chapter members in South Carolina support all but six of the 156 schools in their state that have ROTC and JROTC programs. Many universities, colleges, and high schools have multiple ROTC or JROTC units, run by different service branches, on their campuses. 

Several years ago, the South Carolina Council of Chapters began notifying chapter leaders about ROTC and JROTC programs under way in their area. Although chapter members weren’t required to sponsor these units, every one of the state’s 12 chapters elected to do so. 

Today, chapter members in South Carolina do everything from presenting outstanding ROTC and JROTC cadets with MOAA medals and certificates and college scholarships to helping finance special programs and events for the units. 

Lt. Col. Howard Stammerjohn, USAF-Ret., president of the South Carolina Council of Chapters, thinks there still is room for improvement. Recently, Stammerjohn began enlisting support from MOAA members living in two areas of South Carolina that don’t have MOAA chapters. These members have volunteered to support ROTC and JROTC units in their area, an activity that could spawn several new chapters. 

Members of the Atlanta Chapter also have blanketed their region, providing support to four ROTC and 66 JROTC programs in a 13-county area. In past years, members awarded the outstanding cadet in each unit with an MOAA medal, and one college-bound JROTC cadet received a personal computer. This year, members are restructuring their awards program to award $1,000 scholarships to two students who participated in an Atlanta-area JROTC program during the school year. 

“The price of computers has gone down quite a bit since we began that program back in 1993,” says Maj. Cathryn Vaught, USA-Ret., who heads the chapter’s ROTC and JROTC Support Program. “We thought the scholarships would be more meaningful.”

Competition for the JROTC scholarships should be stiff. Approximately 65 percent of the cadets participating in JROTC programs in the Atlanta public schools go on to college, says Seth Coleman, the schools’ public information officer. 

In addition, approximately 94 percent of JROTC cadets in the Atlanta public schools graduate from high school and 18 percent of graduates enlist in one of the armed forces. The JROTC unit at Mays High School, which is supported by the Atlanta Chapter, has sent more cadets to one of the U.S. military academies than any other high school in the country over the past 12 years. 

Support and expansion

The success of programs in Atlanta illustrates just a few of the many benefits of setting up a JROTC unit. A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private, nonpartisan, policy-research institute in Washington, D.C., also credits JROTC programs with building self-discipline, motivation, and confidence in young people. Students who participate in these programs have fewer absences, higher grade point averages and sat scores, and fewer discipline problems than their counterparts. 

The report concluded that funding for JROTC programs should be increased. Two years ago, the Department of Defense approved funding for fiscal years 2001 through 2005 to raise the number of JROTC units to 3,500, the maximum authorized by Congress. 

Many new programs are being added in underrepresented regions, such as New England, which had only 23 JROTC units in 1992. MOAA chapters have been there to support these fledgling units. Cmdr. Justin Mostert, USN-Ret., who heads a new Navy JROTC program at Gardiner (Maine) High School, says he has received incredible support from his fellow chapter members in the Southern Maine Chapter since the unit was founded in September 2001.

“It’s never been me going to them asking for something,” he says. “It’s always been them coming to me going, ‘This is something that we do, are you interested?’ I can’t say enough good [things] about them.”

Mostert, who had never taught JROTC programs, soon learned to rely on the chapter as a resource. Today, he uses MOAA JROTC medals and certificates as the program’s highest awards. 

Members of the Southern Maine Chapter also support seven other JROTC programs and two ROTC units. Supporting ROTC is important to chapter members like 34-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Chad Schuman, USNR. Schuman volunteered to lead the JROTC and ROTC Support Program shortly after he joined the chapter last year. 

“When I was a midshipman at the University of Rochester in upstate New York back in 1989, I was a recipient of the [Genesee Valley (N.Y.) Chapter’s] then The Retired Officers Association medal,” he says. “It meant a lot to me. I wore that medal on my uniform as a midshipman with pride. I also got a certificate, and I still have those things today.”

Schuman says the recognition and support he received from chapter members as an ROTC cadet was invaluable because it let him know others supported his life choices. Currently, Schuman is working to expand the Southern Maine Chapter’s program, and members are considering starting a scholarship fund for ROTC cadets. 

Programs in need 

Supporting JROTC and ROTC cadets also is important to chapter members in California, where programs like ROTC and JROTC are in danger of being cut due to severe budget problems. Although the state has added many new JROTC and ROTC units—members of the Mojave Desert Chapter began supporting two new JROTC programs this year—other chapters have had to fight to start programs. 

Earlier this year, two members of the Silver Strand Chapter in Coronado, Calif., Capt. James Cahill, USNR-Ret., and Cmdr. Fred Hauck, USNR-Ret., helped get a new Navy JROTC program established at Coronado High School. The pair lobbied Coronado’s mayor and sat in on city council meetings to ensure the city would provide the seed money needed to start the program. 

Members of the Marin County Chapter also faced a fight earlier this year when the school district threatened to close the Air Force JROTC program at Novato (Calif.) High School because of a budget shortfall. The 300-member chapter joined forces with other military and veterans’ groups in the area to form a nonprofit, tax-deductible corporation called Building Better Citizens for America, which raised $16,000 to cover the shortfall. 

According to Marin County Chapter President Cmdr. John Sammons, USPHS-Ret., the chapter, along with other area military and veterans’ organizations, will continue to help raise money to ensure the program’s success. Chapter members also award a total of $5,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds to four outstanding cadets. 

The challenges faced by the Silver Strand and Marin County chapters illustrate an all-too-common problem: Although funding for JROTC programs has increased, a weak economy has left many states with record budget deficits. As a result, many school districts have been forced to cut programs. 

A valuable asset

MOAA chapter support for ROTC and JROTC programs goes beyond certificates, medals, and scholarships. Chapters also remind the community of the value of ROTC and JROTC programs.

Members of the Mount Baldy Chapter in Pomona, Calif., work hard to promote the value of JROTC units, and they’ve been successful, says Col. John Duffy Jr., USAF-Ret., chapter president. Even before Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona opened, the school district approved funding for a JROTC unit, which receives support from the 73 chapter members. 

Members also support seven other JROTC units and three ROTC programs in their area. In addition to presenting certificates and medals to outstanding cadets, chapter members award one $1,000 scholarship annually to a student who participates in the Army ROTC program at nearby Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. 

“The cadets really do treasure the national awards that are given out each year by the Mount Baldy Chapter,” says Capt. David Carroll, USN-Ret., member of the Mount Baldy Chapter and senior naval science instructor of the Navy’s JROTC program at Chaffey High School in Ontario, Calif. “They understand that the members are interested in today’s youth because they are tomorrow’s leaders.”