Plymouth State University has many majors and programs to offer its students. Among them is the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) military program. Although the students involved with the ROTC program stand out when they are in their uniforms, it is not a well-known program.
Plymouth State Senior Dillon Bissell spoke about his experience being a part of Plymouth’s ROTC program. Bissell said, “ROTC is a regular academic program here at Plymouth and the students involved can have whatever major they want, for example my major is Digital Media Advertising.”
The life of an ROTC student is no easy task. “I get up at 5 a.m., five days a week to work out. We mix it up where we’re up in the HUB or PE center and we also go outside. We’ll do rock marches, which is when we fill our bags with 50 pounds of rocks and hike. Other times we’ll do truck pushes. We like to switch it up and do whatever we can do,” said Bissell.
Aside from the working out, members of the ROTC program are required to do physical training outside of Plymouth. Bissell said, “Plymouth State is a satellite school so we don’t actually have ROTC here. We go to UNH, and we’ve had helicopter training in VT and MA. It’s cool. The helicopters picked us up and brought us to sites at the bases we go to.”
Bissell explained what training is like in the ROTC program. “We start off with tactics and actual military strategy and how to lead soldiers through those tactics. One of the biggest things we learn about is our leadership responsibilities.” He went on to say, “Our training is a lot different than basic training because in basic training you learn how to do things, whereas in ROTC, you learn how to lead soldiers through things. It’s because we are training to be officers.” Bissel continues, “So it’s basically like you get your college degree, and then you become a Second Lieutenant.”
The ROTC program isn’t entirely physical training. There is an academic aspect as well. Bissell said, “For the first two years, you have classes once a week where instructors come to Plymouth and once a week at UNH. It’s an actual classroom, and we study past wars, current wars, military strategies, and things like that.”
When asked about how he decided to join the ROTC program Bissell said, “I had a couple friends that did it, and I wanted to learn more. I looked into it in high school, and thought it would be a good idea to have a career coming out of college. I know I’m setting myself up really well for the future with the military, and that keeps me motivated.”
Bissell talked about his hopes to be in Aviation. He said, “I lived next to an airport growing up, so I was fascinated with planes, but I want to fly helicopters.”
Regardless of what branch of the military you may be interested in, the ROTC program is worth looking into. It is an opportunity for students who are interested in the military to gain experience, training, and have an actual military status when they graduate.