AFJROTC is a great program

I applaud the Cape Girardeau Public School system for welcoming AFJROTC to the high school. I participated in an AFJROTC program in St. Louis, Missouri Detachment 851, and it was a transformative experience. The benefits of JROTC programs transcend a connection to the United States Armed Forces. JROTC programs at their core teach concepts of leadership, confidence, decision making, accountability and self-discipline. Additionally, these programs bring topics such as historical and geo-political issues involving the United States and world to students, by officers and NCO's who were often stationed overseas and lived through many of the events that many of us only read about or see on television or online.

In my case, I was fortunate to learn from a retired US Air Force officer who was stationed in Germany during the Cold War and from a retired Air Force NCO who was stationed in Alaska in support of the early warning systems for detecting Soviet Union ICBMs. As a young man in the St. Louis Public School system in the early 1990s, I found Lt. Colonel Massie and Senior Chief Master Sergeant Hill as mentors who have shaped the person I am today. The support of the school district to welcome AFJROTC will be a great resource for some of our high school students, and I applaud the past and current superintendent for bringing this program into our high school.

BRUCE SKINNER, Cape Girardeau