1
00:00:02,803 --> 00:00:05,553
(powerful music)

2
00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:22,707
- Really since, like,
fifth grade I realized,

3
00:00:22,707 --> 00:00:25,010
"Hey, I wanna be an Air Force pilot,

4
00:00:25,010 --> 00:00:26,700
or just really an Air Force officer,"

5
00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:28,163
was kinda the initial dream.

6
00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:30,950
- At the end of high school,

7
00:00:30,950 --> 00:00:33,850
I wasn't 100% sure of what I wanted to do,

8
00:00:33,850 --> 00:00:36,370
but I knew that if I joined
the Air Force, there would be

9
00:00:36,370 --> 00:00:38,910
a good community, good training,

10
00:00:38,910 --> 00:00:41,000
just really good opportunity all around,

11
00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,850
so it just sounded like a great idea.

12
00:00:44,540 --> 00:00:46,240
- One of the assignments
in class- my class,

13
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,600
is to write a memo, "why join ROTC?"

14
00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,570
and then, "what have
you gotten out of it?"

15
00:00:50,570 --> 00:00:53,220
And as I read their memos,
they're talking about

16
00:00:53,220 --> 00:00:55,660
how the program has pushed them

17
00:00:55,660 --> 00:00:57,170
beyond where they thought they could be,

18
00:00:57,170 --> 00:00:59,310
how it's improving them to
be better at time management,

19
00:00:59,310 --> 00:01:01,860
to continue to work out and
take care of themselves,

20
00:01:01,860 --> 00:01:03,410
and to be good wingmen as well.

21
00:01:04,990 --> 00:01:07,520
- I was a very shy, quiet freshman.

22
00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,760
I was scared, intimidated,
not sure if this was the place

23
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:11,613
I wanted to be.

24
00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,600
And I changed a lot
becoming an upperclassman,

25
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,990
coming into my junior year,
coming back from field training.

26
00:01:18,990 --> 00:01:21,940
The cadre could tell you,
I'm so different than I was

27
00:01:21,940 --> 00:01:23,480
two, three years ago.

28
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,840
Much more outgoing, much more confident.

29
00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,540
Definitely has shaped me to
become ready to be an officer,

30
00:01:29,540 --> 00:01:32,013
and ready for the real
world in general, so...

31
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:35,830
- [Rodney] We should
be ready at any moment

32
00:01:35,830 --> 00:01:37,130
to defend our nation.

33
00:01:37,130 --> 00:01:39,590
They pay us to be completely ready.

34
00:01:39,590 --> 00:01:40,970
They've established a standard

35
00:01:40,970 --> 00:01:43,760
for what our physical
fitness level should be.

36
00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,310
My goal is to train these
young men and women to not only

37
00:01:46,310 --> 00:01:47,850
meet it, but exceed that standard.

38
00:01:47,850 --> 00:01:50,080
Physical fitness is the
foundation of everything we do.

39
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,480
It starts with that and
we can build from there.

40
00:01:53,940 --> 00:01:56,320
- So, we're building cadets to mimic

41
00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:57,560
what the Air Force is actually like.

42
00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,170
Academics is their job, is their mission,

43
00:02:00,170 --> 00:02:02,110
while we take hours, days, weeks,

44
00:02:02,110 --> 00:02:03,970
even months to plan an operation,

45
00:02:03,970 --> 00:02:06,300
they take days, hours, even weeks to prep

46
00:02:06,300 --> 00:02:09,430
for their tests and exams to
get good grades and to learn.

47
00:02:09,430 --> 00:02:12,250
The second order that
we give to our cadets,

48
00:02:12,250 --> 00:02:13,710
and make it clear, is their fitness.

49
00:02:13,710 --> 00:02:16,700
Cause that is a standard
that we hold all airmen to,

50
00:02:16,700 --> 00:02:19,270
and we hold cadets to,
and if that's suffering,

51
00:02:19,270 --> 00:02:20,620
then we can't get you to where

52
00:02:20,620 --> 00:02:22,523
you need to go, which is commissioning.

53
00:02:24,210 --> 00:02:27,900
And then third is everything
else, third is your clubs,

54
00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:30,600
your sports, your
fraternities, sororities,

55
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:31,850
cadet wing involvement,

56
00:02:31,850 --> 00:02:34,330
and depending on how the
culture is at the wing

57
00:02:34,330 --> 00:02:36,210
will determine how much
involvement that is.

58
00:02:36,210 --> 00:02:39,620
Big wings with really well
structured organizations

59
00:02:39,620 --> 00:02:41,120
tend to pull their cadets in,

60
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:42,930
they wanna be around that environment,

61
00:02:42,930 --> 00:02:45,110
that Air Force environment
that we're seeding,

62
00:02:45,110 --> 00:02:47,160
integrity, service and excellence,

63
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,740
and you can identify really
quick who gravitates to that,

64
00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:51,020
and who, "eh, that's not for me,"

65
00:02:51,020 --> 00:02:53,800
and that's good, we're not for everybody.

66
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,753
And then you put them in charge of people.

67
00:02:56,660 --> 00:02:58,670
Well peers, now, telling a group of 20

68
00:02:58,670 --> 00:03:00,240
how to dress and cover, how to march,

69
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:01,250
and these are the fundamentals

70
00:03:01,250 --> 00:03:03,287
of discipline, and good order
of discipline is, you know,

71
00:03:03,287 --> 00:03:04,160
"Can I dress and cover?

72
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:05,370
Can I get the little things

73
00:03:05,370 --> 00:03:07,230
so you can grow me to the big things?"

74
00:03:07,230 --> 00:03:08,940
- [Nathan] You know, you
can see from every level

75
00:03:08,940 --> 00:03:10,540
that they're focusing on leadership,

76
00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:11,660
and how, at the end of the day,

77
00:03:11,660 --> 00:03:13,983
is that gonna help you
complete your mission?

78
00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:16,570
And then we need to figure out,

79
00:03:16,570 --> 00:03:18,830
how do we lead these people to success?

80
00:03:18,830 --> 00:03:21,500
How effective is your team gonna
be to complete that mission

81
00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:22,333
at the end of the day.

82
00:03:22,333 --> 00:03:24,133
That's something they've harped on here.

83
00:03:26,790 --> 00:03:27,690
- This is not gonna be the pensive,

84
00:03:27,690 --> 00:03:30,770
this is not gonna be
you grab everything you

85
00:03:30,770 --> 00:03:34,130
need when you leave here, go
active and be the best leader.

86
00:03:34,130 --> 00:03:35,627
That is not the case at all.

87
00:03:40,390 --> 00:03:42,250
We're setting a foundation
for you, you kinda have

88
00:03:42,250 --> 00:03:45,090
some tools in your toolkit
to pull from to start with.

89
00:03:45,090 --> 00:03:47,340
You will constantly develop
as a leader with our program,

90
00:03:47,340 --> 00:03:49,780
and that is the same case for
me sitting here right now.

91
00:03:49,780 --> 00:03:53,170
I constantly develop, and I
think when you reach a point

92
00:03:53,170 --> 00:03:55,020
where you feel like you're
not developing no more,

93
00:03:55,020 --> 00:03:56,753
then you can go find
somewhere else to give.

94
00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:01,240
There's no one form that's
gonna be the right form

95
00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:02,073
for the rest of your life,

96
00:04:02,073 --> 00:04:04,090
so don't think that this
is it and you're here.

97
00:04:04,090 --> 00:04:05,290
This is not the Gospel, you're gonna go

98
00:04:05,290 --> 00:04:07,649
and get some more words, some
more styles of leadership

99
00:04:07,649 --> 00:04:10,649
that you'd develop in the Air Force.

100
00:04:14,390 --> 00:04:16,210
- It's a really good balance, I think.

101
00:04:16,210 --> 00:04:18,540
I'm a business major, so it's kinda cool

102
00:04:18,540 --> 00:04:20,760
because I learn a lot of
leadership management,

103
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,680
and ROTC coincides so nicely with that.

104
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,330
I get to learn about that
stuff in the classroom

105
00:04:26,330 --> 00:04:28,083
and execute it here at ROTC.

106
00:04:29,750 --> 00:04:31,630
You're always developing,
you're always growing,

107
00:04:31,630 --> 00:04:33,313
and I think that's awesome.

108
00:04:37,091 --> 00:04:38,700
Just finding people that
have the same values as you,

109
00:04:38,700 --> 00:04:42,610
and have goals, and are
looking to develop themselves,

110
00:04:42,610 --> 00:04:44,210
ROTC is definitely the place

111
00:04:44,210 --> 00:04:46,143
to be surrounded by those types of people.