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Squad leader Audrey Lui (right) and fire team leader Ealey Seto (left) reconnoiter before storming the enemy bunker.
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Female Cadets Maintain High Profile in USF’s ROTC
Squad leader Audrey Lui has 40 minutes and a tough mission: Find the enemy bunker and destroy it. “We’ll attack the enemy at echo tango one, two, three, four, five, six,” she instructs her team of 10. Shouldering their rifles, team members fan out into two groups and silently begin to march. Cresting a hill, half the team sights the bunker and begins to fire. The other half, snaking northward through the grass for a surprise attack, rushes the bunker and “kills” the enemy. Mission accomplished.
The “bunker” may be a circle of old stones among the weeds and the “enemy” her fellow USF students, but the leadership training Lui is receiving as a member of USF’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is real. Lui is one of 34 women in the 64-member program, one of the highest percentages of women in any ROTC program nationally. Women make up about 25 percent of the national corps.
“It teaches us about leadership, about life,” said Taylor Johnson, a senior nursing student and the USF battalion’s third female commander in two years. Cadets achieve rank solely by merit and at USF the women are motivated, said Lt. Col. Daniel Mahoney, the director of the program and a professor of military history.
“They’re just the best,” Mahoney said. “For whatever reason, there’s a high propensity of women who come here who want to achieve.”
2003 marks the 30th year since women were allowed to enlist in the Army. Although the Army does not allow women to serve in the infantry or other front-line fighting units, they are increasingly showing up in combat support positions, in artillery units, and as military police.
At USF, a big draw for women in the ROTC program is the 14 to 16 annual Army scholarships that pay for full tuition and books plus a small monthly stipend their senior year. About 21 women receiving scholarships are nursing students for whom service after graduation will mean valuable professional experience in Army hospitals. Several female cadets however, like senior Ealey Seto, a computer science major, will serve for four years on active duty in the Army or Army Reserves as a regular officer. Seto’s goal is to serve in military intelligence or the communications corps, she said.
“What you will find is that the ROTC program really offers an excellent opportunity for students of both genders,” said Paul Katokis, national ROTC spokesman. “It is very common to see a female cadet leading a battalion. With the passage of time, women are truly making their mark.”
Female cadets said it’s the team-building nature of the ROTC that helps them feel less intimidated when taking charge. “Here we live, work, and train together,” Lui said. “Without that team spirit the camaraderie between men and women wouldn’t be as strong.”
All ROTC recruits must pass a physical-training test and are scored on their leadership capability both in their local program and during a five-week Army summer camp between their junior and senior years. During camp, cadets must show familiarity with tactical maneuvers, signals, and communication protocol.
Women say they also draw confidence from their numbers. “Having more women makes it less intimidating,” said sophomore Rebecca Josephs, a communication studies major. “You make good friends. No one else sees me coming out of the tent in the dirt at 2 a.m.”
Nationally, the ROTC has seen an increase in recruits this year, from 28,470 cadets last year to 29,818 this year. “I think September 11 has something to do with it, but we’ve also been doing a better job of explaining the benefits of ROTC,” Katokis said. “With 30,000 people in the program, there are probably 30,000 reasons to join.”
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