Spring Break
A Cadet's Double Life
ROTC Program Prepares Students For Post-Graduate Military Service
Aaron Lescroart
Issue date: 10/9/07 Section: News
Andrew Duguay appears to be a typical UConn student. He's a sophomore majoring in business management, lives in a dorm, has classes and enjoys his free time with friends.
But on every Thursday he dons his Air Force uniform and goes to his double life as an ROTC cadet.
The Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) is a military program at UConn where students enlist in the military and fulfill requirements to become officers while pursuing a college degree, according to their UConn Web site. After graduation, cadets in the program are commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. They are then required to serve for four years.
Duguay enrolled in the ROTC program during his freshman year. He had always wanted to be in the Air Force and this made his commitment official. He decided against applying to the Air Force Academy because of doubts as to whether he'd be accepted and because he wanted to experience college life.
"The biggest thing people don't realize is that a majority of it is like regular college life," Duguay said.
He is required to keep two hours of personal training, attend one hour of Air Force classes and participate in two hours of a leadership laboratory a week. The majority of the latter is done on Thursday, when Duguay and other Air Force cadets spend their time in either the Hawley Armory or the ROTC building next to it.
The classes and leadership laboratory aren't as strict and dry as might be thought of a military class.
"It's more laid back," Duguay said. "It's not all blood and guts and doing pushups."
His teacher, Captain Todd Pincombe opens an Air Force history class about World War I and World War II with a scene from Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" as a joke to show what the war was like. The leadership lab consists of presentations, formation drills, and even a formation exercise where cadets must quickly follow instructions and keep a straight face or else be eliminated until only one is left.
But on every Thursday he dons his Air Force uniform and goes to his double life as an ROTC cadet.
The Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) is a military program at UConn where students enlist in the military and fulfill requirements to become officers while pursuing a college degree, according to their UConn Web site. After graduation, cadets in the program are commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. They are then required to serve for four years.
Duguay enrolled in the ROTC program during his freshman year. He had always wanted to be in the Air Force and this made his commitment official. He decided against applying to the Air Force Academy because of doubts as to whether he'd be accepted and because he wanted to experience college life.
"The biggest thing people don't realize is that a majority of it is like regular college life," Duguay said.
He is required to keep two hours of personal training, attend one hour of Air Force classes and participate in two hours of a leadership laboratory a week. The majority of the latter is done on Thursday, when Duguay and other Air Force cadets spend their time in either the Hawley Armory or the ROTC building next to it.
The classes and leadership laboratory aren't as strict and dry as might be thought of a military class.
"It's more laid back," Duguay said. "It's not all blood and guts and doing pushups."
His teacher, Captain Todd Pincombe opens an Air Force history class about World War I and World War II with a scene from Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" as a joke to show what the war was like. The leadership lab consists of presentations, formation drills, and even a formation exercise where cadets must quickly follow instructions and keep a straight face or else be eliminated until only one is left.
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