McKaylee Higgs
Staff Writer
mehiggs@valdosta.edu

Today’s student cadets are tomorrows Air Force leaders.

VSU’s Detachment 172 AFROTC is a cadet run program that is designed to prepare future officers of the United States Air Force according to a one of the program’s cadre leaders.

According Captain Timothy Bazzle, unit admissions officer of the ROTC, the focus of the program is to provide the cadets with leadership skills and the necessary qualities needed to be successful as officers in the United States Air Force.

“I think that our program definitely does a good job at preparing people and helping people to grow and to develop,” Bazzle said.

Victor Graffeo, a junior history major, is a prior enlisted member of the Air Force. He joined the ROTC program at VSU because he wanted to give back to the people who helped him while he was enlisted and to help mentor younger airmen.

“I wanted to give back to the community that gave me so much, such as leadership skills, confidence and a sense of teamwork and dedication,” Graffeo said.

The ROTC program is designed to be a four-year program. Traditionally, a cadet would join the program during freshmen year and complete the required ROTC requirements while pursuing any major. There are ROTC classes that are required for cadets to take.

The freshmen ROTC academic class is called foundations of the United States Air Force and, according to Bazzle, is basically like an introduction to the Air Force. The sophomore academic class is an Air Force history course, the junior class is a leadership studies course and the senior academic class is an international securities course.

According to Bazzle, these classes count as electives toward the cadet’s major and are regular college courses, which are offered to all students at VSU, not just ROTC cadets. The cadre members are VSU professors; Bazzle and Captain Paul McArtor, commandment of cadets, are assistant professors and Lt Colonel Alan Elledge, commander of the ROTC is a full professor at VSU.

There is also a leadership laboratory course that each cadet is required to take every semester. This course is a one-hour credit course, which meets once a week. This is a cadet run class and all of the activities are set up and run by the cadets.

According to Bazzle there are two groups of cadets in the program. The first group is the general military course and the second is the professional officer’s course.

The general military course is for the freshmen and sophomores or new people in the program. There is no military commitment at this point in the program. Bazzle said that some of the cadets at this level are very committed and know that this is a program they will stick with. However, he also said that there are cadets at this stage who just want to try it out and see what it is like. Bazzle said that this is fine and that interested students are always welcome to come see what the ROTC program is like.
The second stage of the ROTC program is the professional officer course. After a cadet’s first couple of years in the program, the cadres evaluate the cadet for field training, which occurs in the summer between sophomore and junior year. Field training is a month-long course that is located at Maxwell AFB in Alabama. Field training is like boot camp for officers, Bazzle said. If the cadet successfully completes field training then the cadet returns to the ROTC program as a junior and enters the professional officer course. The cadets in this course are the leaders of the cadet core, since the detachment is a cadet-run program. The cadre members teach the academic classes and are there to provide guidance and to set boundaries, but according to Bazzle, it is the POC members who are the main leaders of the program.

POC members are contracted cadets. These members have entered into a contract with the Air Force. If the contracted cadet keeps their end of the contract, which is staying within the grade standards, staying out of trouble and graduating with a bachelor’s degree, then the cadet will commission and become an officer in the United States Air Force.

The cadets must maintain certain grade requirements in order to stay in the ROTC program. Non-scholarship cadets are required to maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative and semester GPA. If the cadet is on an ROTC scholarship then they have to maintain a 2.5 cumulative and semester GPA. Bazzle said that it is not uncommon for the cadets to send around tutoring signup sheets for classes like physics, math and other difficult courses. He said that the cadets are all majoring in different majors and so they are able to help each other do well in classes.

“We don’t really have an official term for it, but I just think of it as cadets helping cadets,” Bazzle said.

McKaylee added a personal touch to her article. –> Click here