JROTC Experience I have long been impressed by the United States armed forces and its many branches of service. I was only eight or nine years old when I met my aunt Carol for the first time, who was enlisted in the Navy. I remember seeing her in her uniform as we came to pick her up from the airport -- she certainly stood out from the other travelers. As I got to know her, I was impressed by her demeanor, her composure, and her sense of values that reflected honesty, hard work, and other mores that the United States and its military exemplifies. She had a long career in the Navy and was able to parley that experience into a job as a computer technician. She always said that her experience in the Navy was instrumental in helping her decide a career path and to make sense of her life. We have been close ever since that initial meeting and, as a result of her lofty regard for the armed services and the military in particular, I made it...

I usually did very well in my high school courses, but had a number of friends in the Navy JROTC program who struggled academically. Some of them even dropped out of high school. Although I am now in college and working my way towards graduation, I wanted to write this paper to truly see if the beneifts of enrolling in the JROTC truly are greater than the lack of success stories.
When I was in the JROTC, the greatest thing that I learned from it was a sense of discipline that has been highly influential for me, particularly in my collegiate endeavors. Discipline, however, is a trait that is not easily quantifiable and, although it may help when it comes time to buckling down and studying, does not directly relate to academic achievement.…