This is the essay I wrote for the JROTC Battalion Essay contest. 350 words of pure love. It just won the Brigade-level competition.
If I walk through my high school, I will see many small, disjointed groups. These groups are defined often by gender, class, wealth, intelligence, or opinions. But, if I choose to travel to a far corner of the school, I find a group that defies the definition of a group set by the rest of the school. The Golden Eagle Battalion, unique in its structure and in its purpose, attracts me more than any other group. This is the group to which I choose to belong.
Those other groups that you see are often defined by something unpleasant. Nasty concepts like elitism limit people from the groups and prevent them from having standing in them. JROTC is uniquely democratic. Any student can join and become not just a member, but also a leader. There are no limits on participation. A group like this can’t be found elsewhere on campus.
The Battalion doesn’t just accept us all; it gives us all a purpose. It gives you a mission, although it is your choice to accept it. The mission of JROTC is to make young people better citizens. We do this through education and through helping our community. Those other groups, they generally lack any purpose at all. But we have a mandate to improve ourselves, a mandate that can be accepted as nothing less than noble. I chose to accept that mandate, and am proud of that choice. Far more proud, I believe, than any choice I could have made to join a clique.
