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ROTC cadet takes pride in serving country |
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
by CHRIS ZALUSKI
Associate Editor for Online Operations
 | The Appalachian
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At 5:30 in the morning, most Appalachian State University students are sound asleep, much less in the middle of a six-mile run.
Except for Clayton R. Quamme.
Quamme, a senior economics major, has been involved with Appalachian’s ROTC program for the past four years. Waking up early for physical training is just one aspect of the program Quamme has learned to appreciate.
“Eventually,
what I’m doing this for is to serve the country,” Quamme said. “It’s
funny because I’m getting up early to work for all the other people who
are able to sleep in late. My sacrifices are helping a lot of other
people, which is nice.”
When Quamme graduates in December, he will enter the army as a second lieutenant.
However, after
graduation, there is no telling where Quamme will be deployed. Though
he requested Hawaii, he must be in the top 10 percent of the 3,000
graduating ROTC members nationwide in order to get his top choice.
Through a scale
divided among a 30-day leadership evaluation camp, GPA and ROTC work at
Appalachian, Quamme figures he is near the 10 percent border.
“My biggest fear
is the fear of the unknown, and my fear of the unknown is what creates
my fear of the military,” Quamme said. “I don’t know which branch I’ll
be in. I don’t know where I’m going, so it’s harder for me to prepare.”
No matter where
he will be stationed, he will most likely end up in Iraq – a thought
that puts him in a different mindset than most seniors.
“My mind is
definitely thinking a little differently than most people who are
getting out of college, knowing that pretty soon I might have bullets
buzzing over my head in a desert that’s 150 degrees,” he said.
This scenario,
Quamme said, is something that worries his family and friends,
including senior psychology major Ashley R. Banford, Quamme’s
girlfriend of 15 months.
“It would be
nice if he didn’t have to go, but I know, rationally, that’s not going
to happen,” Banford, who is also graduating in December, said.
Amidst an
America that is split at the political seams, Quamme wishes others
would put themselves in a soldier’s shoes. He said he occasionally
hears negative comments about the ROTC program from people who
associate the soldiers with political decisions in Washington.
“It’s the whole
fact that the people who are making decisions to send troops into Iraq
are not going into Iraq themselves,” Quamme said. “And often times the
American people who get so flustered with the whole situation and feel
we shouldn’t be in there aren’t going to Iraq either.”
In terms of Banford’s opinions of the situation in Iraq, she said she supports the troops more than the war.
“I definitely support the men and women who are over there, but I wish they could come home,” she said.
Both Quamme and
Banford said despite political affiliation, the Memorial Day season
calls to mind how important it is to support the soldiers.
“Support from the public is what allows troops to do their job and do it with confidence and pride,” Quamme said.
Though being
deployed in Iraq seems to be a very real possibility for Quamme, he
said ultimately he is not worried and is looking forward to the
opportunity.
“I feel if I’m
going over there, I’m going to have control,” Quamme said. “To be
honest, if I do get shot and end up dying over there, I truly feel like
it’s a worthy thing to serve my country.”
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