JROTC - PERSONAL ESSAY

“JROTC instruction is unique in that it includes student involvement in both the teaching and learning of the curriculum. How has your involvement in JROTC teaching and learning

helped you prepare for future college and career challenges?” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What makes a good leader? Is it fear or love? Machiavellians and moralists alike have been vexed by this question for centuries. Meanwhile, this question has been a point of great contention throughout my life, with my personal philosophy – being that a leader’s purpose is to serve his/her followers – oft times conflicting with the expectations for me to apply a forceful hand upon my subordinates. Throughout my years of JROTC I have grappled with this incongruence, and ultimately I learned to abandon my preconceptions on what a leader should be in favor of following my own path. Upon this unweeded trail I was met with dilapidated fortune, and the overgrown thorns of my opposition. Yet, with my ideology as a machete I pushed forward, never straying from my aphorism that “A leader unwilling to sacrifice himself for his followers is undeserving of his position.” The day was Competition day; the wind was crisp, and the only thing greener than the grass was our cadets’ envy towards higher performing teams. I was standing with my soon-to-be predecessor, whose pep talks had given way to projections of their inner melancholy. The two of us looked towards the Awards Table; on it I saw a goal worth fighting for, yet my counterpart saw an impossible dream. Both of our eyes had set upon the same 1st Place Overall Academics trophy. The most apathetic of leaders - my aforementioned teammate included - have become indoctrinated to the belief that whatever they do in life is utterly inconsequential. They hold to the idea that sometime in the future, the solution will emerge by itself. All order breaks down in disorder, and no problem ever solves itself. It is only through the work of leaders and followers alike that we may reach for our goals - for example, a 1st Place Academics trophy.

From George Washington to Nestor Makhno, a true leader never fails to realize that they are a part of the team, not independent or superior to it. In nature, even the most resilient and beautiful of flowers could not exist without the humble worker bee; however, no matter how dedicated this bee is, she could not survive without the flower’s nourishment. No different is the symbiotic relationship of a leader and follow, wherein one could not possibly survive without the other. This I learned from my time as Academic Team Commander, wherein my own Icarian temperaments caused me to distance myself from my team and pursue a victory through my own individual merits. At the end of my sophomore year, I was given the task of planning and directing an academic competition; however, my arrogance prompted me to refuse the help of my contemporaries, and attempt to complete this task on my own. While this pursuit was ultimately successful, I had encumbered myself with the weight of my work, causing myself unnecessary stress. However, this was a necessary Trial by Fire, from which I learned the importance of a interdependent relationship between leader and follower.

When more imaginative minds speak of time travel, they often express their worries that any small action in the past may radically change the present; why is it, then, that nobody today worries that any small action in the present may radically change the future? This is what JROTC has reinforced in me, that in order to make a change or do anything of significance, you must take that first step, and dedicate the entirety of your body and mind towards your goal; however,

it has also taught me that nobody can do this alone, and that behind every great leader is an imperishable mass of loyal followers and companions.