Columbus State and Fort Benning to co-operate to make ROTC a success

BY BORDEN BLACK - Special to the Ledger-Enquirer --

When Tony Savage was in ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) during college, the program wasn't near a military installation.

"We had to go use an old beat-up National Guard training area that no one kept up. I never got to fire a weapon until I was a senior," he remembers. Savage, who is now a Major in the Department of Military Science at Columbus State University, says the ROTC program there is "awesome" because of the advantages provided by Fort Benning.

Recently the cadets were able to use Fort Benning's Bryant Wells Pool for their combat survival water test. That kind of sharing is both cost-efficient and it takes less time to arrange according to Savage. He says the university doesn't have to reserve so far out and Fort Benning is more amicable than some Columbus facilities to the cadets' needs.

In addition to providing training areas, Fort Benning sends military vehicles for displays, shares the expertise of veterans and provides the college students with exposure to military life.

"I was a military brat," Savage says, "so I understood. A lot of these cadets from the Atlanta area have never been around a military base. They come down here and see how the army really works. It lets you live it."

Cadet Lt. Col. Merritt Thomas agrees. He, too, grew up in a military family.

"I went to the Leadership Development Advanced course in Fort Lewis this summer. The kids there said they hardly ever get to a military installation. I was above the power curve," he explains. Now in his fourth year in the CSU ROTC program, Thomas says they are doing more things in cooperation with Fort Benning.

CSU military science department commander Lt. Col. Mark Ridley says if he took advantage of everything Fort Benning offered, the cadets wouldn't have time to be students -- instead they would be in the Army. He says Benning and the Army benefit in return.

"They get a chance to expose the cadet, who will soon be an officer, to what the Army is like," Ridley says. "It reduces the additional training they would have to do as an officer and the cadet is going to have better feel for life in the Army."

Not only do they get exposure to the Army life, CSU cadets also get to see leadership in action. Ridley says the seniors get a chance to see how the university coordinates with Benning.

"That's what ROTC does. It allows students to do hands-on leadership. No other leadership program does that," Ridley asserts.

The post also supplies cadets to the university. This year there are 61 in the program. Some joined up because their parents are at Fort Benning. Several are in the Green-to-Gold program... enlisted personnel who go through the program and come out lieutenants.

Delvin Lewis is one of the Green-to-Gold cadets. He spent seven years in the Army and is now in his third year of ROTC.

"The relationship is very beneficial," he says of the cooperation with Fort Benning. "You come here and you can put what you learn into practice. What is taught at the university is not real world."

Because of his prior military experience he is able to help his fellow cadets and says they ask him a lot of questions.

Merritt says he's heard a lot of cadets say they think they are squared away only to get in the Army and find out they don't know as much as they think. He says although he has a long way to go, he feels confident. Ridley is equally confident.

"My cadets are prepared to enter the Army, and Fort Benning contributes to that."

ROTC AT COLUMBUS STATE UNIVERSITY

Cougar Battalion Columbus State University's (ROTC) Program:

• Military science curriculum (33 credit hours) divided into the basic course (freshman/sophomore) and the advanced course (junior/senior).

• Basic course is open to all students without military obligation

• Advanced course is open only to students approved by the professor of military science. Students who complete the advanced course are commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Army, National Guard or Army Reserve upon graduation.

• Textbooks and other required course materials are furnished at no charge. Scholarships are also available.