Army Speech A junior ROTC ball is not the most receptive audience for a speech about the future and possible career choices, but nonetheless I was asked to speak to a group of future military members at just such an event. However these future members of the military were still only high school students and I was keeping them from enjoying their party, so I knew I had to somehow captivate their imaginations in order to keep their attention. I also had once sat in their chairs as a HSJROTC student and I felt that since I had once been where they were, I could at least give them some advice as how to succeed in the military. But I could give them something more than that, since, as young people without any real experience of the military, I could give them my personal experience and hopefully instill some excitement about a future military career.

For those who are unfamiliar, a junior ROTC ball is much like a high school prom. Although it is meant to be a more formal event, the immaturity of high school students, even those with some military training like the audience I was addressing, was quite prevalent. After all, these students were experiencing things for the first time and their excitement sometimes could get the better of them. I did not know these students personally, they were students at a school in Butler Georgia, the home of my first sergeant, Command Sergeant Bush; the man who had asked me to speak there. Butler is a small rural community with a...

They worked on farms, were familiar with and supported the right to own guns, and, like many youngsters from a small rural community, they dreamed of life outside their little town. Because the military offers an individual a chance to travel and visit many different places, I felt that this may be a way to stir their imaginations and get their attention.
In my speech I wanted to accomplish two things: firstly, I wanted them to know the real experience of being in the United States military, not just the movie-version. And secondly, I wanted them to know that there are real possibilities for career advancement and success within the military. I wanted them to understand, like I have come to understand, a person can have a successful and rewarding career in the Army. But the first thing I had to do was to make some kind of connection with the audience, to let them know that I was not just another speech maker sent to waste their time with a boring speech about honor, duty and service to country. I needed to make them understand that I was once one of them, and they could someday become someone like me.

I began with a story about my own junior ROTC ball and how a boring military officer came to give a speech which almost put everyone to sleep, and then assured them that I would not be doing the same. Then I told them about how I partied on that night with my friends,…