With midterms in full swing, the average Binghamton University student is most likely feeling a bit pressured. But for the 24 BU students enrolled in the Army or Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, self-control and responsibility are everyday requirements — not just skills that kick in the night before exams.

ROTC allows students to prepare for careers in the military by beginning their training during college. For BU students enrolled in the program, this means 6:30 a.m. workout sessions, field training exercises and a commute to Ithaca at least once a week for courses and detachments through Cornell University.

Since schools like BU, SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College don’t offer military courses on campus, ROTC students attend those classes at Cornell — courses that are part of the training they will receive to become second lieutenants in their respective services. This classroom education includes training in battlefield tactics, soldiering skills, military protocol and leadership. Field training exercises, which take place once a semester, prepare cadets for careers in the military by developing skills like marksmanship, land navigation and how to react to enemy fire.

The schedule is intense, and for some it’s hardly their only commitment.

Air Force ROTC cadet Christopher Wenz, a senior electrical engineering major, also takes courses in aerospace studies at Cornell. But here at BU, he’s a resident assistant and has a part-time job.

“When you’re in the Air Force,” Wenz said, “it’s a matter of discipline and time management.” This extends to home life as well — he doesn’t own a television.

Army ROTC cadet Man Fung Wong, a junior, said the program is not that demanding — “once you get into the routine of things.” A biological studies major and president of the Asian Student Union, Wong explained that the time management and organizational skills he has learned from the Army help him to “keep my sanity at the end of the day.”

The hardest part, he added, are perhaps the early-morning group workout sessions, which usually keep potential recruits from committing.

FLYING SOLO?

But the workouts didn‘t scare Natalie Stout, ROTC’s only female member at BU. For Stout, being the only woman in the program is an incentive, not an obstacle.

“I don’t feel like an outsider, but sometimes I feel like I have to work a little harder [to] prove myself,” she said. “I want to show the guys that I can do everything they do, maybe even better.”

When asked why she thinks so few females enroll in ROTC, Stout explained that “there are a lot of stereotypes about women in the army; girls are afraid they’ll be perceived as manly, or that they won’t be able to handle the physical demands.”

Regardless of sex, students can’t enroll in BU ROTC if they don’t know that it exists. Here at BU there is “practically no support network for student soldiers, veterans or students with an interest in military service,” Wong said. One of the ROTC’s goals this year, he added, is to “make our presence known on campus … [so] those who are interested know that this program is offered here.”

One of the major benefits of the program is the probability of a scholarship package. Many ROTC students receive tuition scholarships, stipends for text books and personal stipends. Wong said that while the benefits he receives were not a major factor in his decision to join, “it is awfully nice to get paid to go to school.”

Yet with war still raging in Iraq, scholarship opportunities may not be enough of an incentive to join. A representative of Binghamton’s local ROTC recruitment office, located in University Plaza on Vestal Parkway, said that in terms of recruitment numbers, “we did meet our mission this year … but there were a lot of obstacles to overcome.”

IN A COMBAT ZONE

Being sent to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan isn’t guaranteed, but it certainly is possible. By May of 2003 at least 13 students had been called to active duty in Iraq, according to campus newsletter Inside BU.

For BU’s cadets, the chance of being sent to Iraq is not a drawback. Even in the face of possible deployment, Wong is sure of his choice.

“Even when I hear about the overseas conflict … the leadership skills, self-confidence and experience I gain far outweigh the negatives,” he said.

And Wenz, who will likely become a navigator upon graduation, said that “there’s more about being in the military than just what’s going on in Iraq … there are other issues around the world and here at home.”

Women are still not permitted in the US military’s infantry — but to Stout, this matters little.

“In Iraq, no one is safer than anybody else … everybody is involved, whether you’re in transportation, going on convoys or on the front line,” she said. And she added that she enlisted knowing full well that she could be sent to Iraq.

“If they have to send me, I’ll actually feel better,” she said, “because that way I’ll know I’m doing my part.”