Four cadets from Shippensburg University’s ROTC gathered to give a presentation on how the program has impacted their lives as students on Sept. 23 in the CUB as a part of SUnity Week.
SU’s Army ROTC hosted “Love for County,” which featured cadets Aidan Brenize, Daniel Prachthauser, Colin Arnold and Joseph Kunsman. Past the presentation itself, these cadets are pursuing the Army’s mission and their own ambitions as Shippensburg University students. It can be an intense weight on their shoulders attempting to balance both ROTC and being a college student.
The cadets can be commissioned anywhere, ranging from San Diego to Georgia, or in places beyond the United States.
None of the cadets came from a military family background, which is a large factor for most people who join. The cadets have a variety of reasons for joining, such as the fulfillment that ROTC offers.
“You’re getting fulfilled by it in your own way, but the comfort is that forethought of me as a freshman, I came in with no experience in a wide-open mind, and then I guzzled from the fire hose,” said Brenize.
Each cadet conveyed that ROTC had given back experiences, opportunities and connections to making their sacrifices to the university’s battalion worth it.
“I’ve made some of the best buddies with my travels and everything else, and at the same time, I’ve lost some of those best buddies. It’s pretty awesome to know that you’re still honoring everything that they taught you,” said Brenize.
“We’re not super freak athletes or like geniuses,” said Prachthauser. “It’s just we show up, we want to do it, and we have the mind that we want to do it, we will do it. That’s it.”
One final takeaway from Arnold is that outside of the positive accomplishments, their own failures have also given them opportunities and life lessons.
“One of the greatest things for me that I’ve experienced is my failures within the program. We are challenged, we did accomplish all these great things but I failed Army school. I fell short, I let people down, I didn’t do the best work ever, but within that failure, we’ve been able to become better leaders and better people,” said Arnold.
“Love for Country” was one of the many SUnity Week events focused on celebrating differences within our community and bringing people together.
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