ROTC PROGRAMS HERE STEER CLEAR OF CUTS

The Army ROTC program at Southeast Missouri State University won't be feeling the pinch from cutbacks taking place at many ROTC universities throughout the country.

Fifty-two Army ROTC units will be closed this August, according to Maj. Roger McMaster, chief of the Army ROTC program at Southeast, including one at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. Southeast's program, however, is expected to grow.

McMaster said Cadet Command at Fort Monroe, which administers the ROTC programs, has been examining units nationwide to determine which ones were not producing their "fair share," in both quantity and quality of commissioned officers.

"A host school is expected to turn out 11 officers a year, and an extension should have seven officers a year," McMaster said.

The extension program at Southeast has been graduating nine to 11 officers yearly, McMaster said, and 17 to 20 cadets are expected to be graduated in future years.

"We have so much interest in the local area," he said, "that we may actually become a host school."

McMaster said this interest is due to the appeal of an army career, not to the increased patriotism from the Gulf War that some might expect.

"Now that the war is over," he said. "People have more of a feeling of reality about the service. They realize that they could be called to participate in a war.

"The Army ROTC is now getting people who are more determined to become officers. Being in the army is a really good deal, and officers make three times more money than soldiers."

The ROTC cutbacks at other schools have come about, said McMaster, because of reductions in U.S. Defense Department funding.

"They're trying to make the Army smaller," McMaster said. "There is now less of a requirement for commissioned officers."

This situation has resulted from the existence of cordial relationships between the U.S. and Communist powers, he said.

"The Army is predicated on a threat from the Soviet Union," he said. "Now that Russia wants more peaceable relations, there isn't as much need for soldiers. That's why we have less of a need for commissioned officers."

Another result of the budget cutbacks is reduction in the number of ROTC scholarships available a result which Southeast is experiencing.

"We used to give a lot of two-year scholarships," McMaster said. "We cut those, but now we're giving more three- and four-year scholarships, which are more rare. This should entice more qualified recruits."

The university's Air Force ROTC program isn't faced with similar problems, but it also anticipates drawing more qualified candidates.

"We aren't experiencing any cutbacks per se," said Cpt. Paul Keeping, assistant professor of aerospace studies at Southeast, "but we're getting more competitive in the allocation process. Cadets are competing for entrance nationwide, and the slots are more difficult to come by than in the past.

"We're able to pick the best of the best."