1983_11 The Daily Collegian November 1983

              IPagqe <S>
'...I've got to
do what I've
got to do'
kJam Walker remembers what happened on a
Thursday afternoon not too long ago.
He was walking home from school. In his cap, black
shoes, navy blue wool pants and light blue cotton shin,
the CSUF sophomore was easily recognized as an
ROTC cadet.
Spotting Walker, a cyclist decided to air his apparent contempt for those involved in the armed services.
"Fly boy." he hissed as he sped by, hoping to insult
the Air Force pilot hopeful. But Walker took it as a
"I am a fly boy."said ihe 20-year-old Walker, now
looking like any other student in his tennis shoes,
faddcd jeans and polo-style shirt. Only his short haircut identified him as an Air Force ROTC cadet.
"I like the thought of defending my country. To a lot
of people that sounds corny, but I really believe in it."
"I guess deep down I've always wanted to fly," said
Walker, the son of an Army aviator.
The self-proclaimed "army brat" was born in France
and moved once a year until he was 13 years old.
"1 didn't mind the moving at all. I like going to new
places and making new friends. Frankly that's one
reason why I decided when I was a junior in high
school, to join an ROTC program.
"I got a lot of support from my family right away,
but my friends had a fit. As far as they knew I was
going to boot camp and scrubbing floors for the rest of
"There are a lot of anti-military feelings out there
and I had to deal with that, but it really put the test on
whether I wanted to do it or not."
*3 ust as his friends in high school had misconceptions aboul what he would be doing, Walker believes
lhat CSUF students also fail to understand what being
an ROTC student is all about.
"When I wear my uniform on Thursdays, as required, it automatically sets me apart. A lot of heads
turn, and sometimes 1 get dirty looks."
"I suspect most students think we're a bunch of
geeks that like to dress up in uniforms and march
around, without considering what the consequences of
what we're doing could lead to.
"I even thought that might be the case before I got
here." he said. "But it didn't take very long to realize
just about the opposite is true."
"If I could tell someone something, 1 would say
'look. I know what I'm doing,' " he said, striking his
knee with the palm of his hand to accentuate his point.
"ROTC students may be patriotic, but we're certainly
not empty-headed.
"It's myjob to fight and if that means killing people,
that means killing people. If I'm called on by my
country, I've got to do what I've got to do — and no
one has brainwashed me into thinking that way like
The fact that Walker is willing to go to war does not
mean he has no fear.of it.
"It's scary," he said. "It's hard to imagine me going
to war. I'm so young. Sometimes I lie in bed at night
and say, 'God, they could call me tomorrow and say we
need you,' but I still have no qualms about going. I
know what 1 want."
Once dismissed. Walker and the other
head down the hall to room 112 for their class briefing,
keeping up a lighthearted banter
Once there last weeks tests are returned. Walkei
pulls an A paper from a slack of C's and
friend that was recently sick, and asks how he is feeling. Another aspect of his life as a ROTC student now
Walker said the friendships he has formed with
other ROTC students are "definitely lasting
"The closeness we feel began when we were freshmen," he said. At times no one knew what was going
on and we had to pull each other through.
"We have a
haven't made it until we take the officers oath. There is
a lot of pressure on us to look good and perform well,
and we can't do it alone."
As Cadet Master Sergeant, making sure people "pull
actly what he is supposed  to do.
Answerable only to the Corps commander, Walker
l commander for the o
freshmen and sophomore cadets.
lt it his job to make sure the lower classmen feel
comfortable about what they are doingand where they
are going. It's a job he takes quite seriously — seriously
enough to leave a reporter in the ROTC lounge for
several minutes while he helped a classmate.
"He (the cadet) wasn't sure which office he was
assigned to work in," Walker said after returning. "My
goal in that situation was was to make that cadet look
as good as possible "
."I checked with the chiefs in the two offices where he
thought he might be working, and he got it settled
He's set now.
"I don't only talk to the cadets when they approach
me with a problem. Sometimes I see one of them and
say 'hey, let's talk,'" he said.
"I try to use my experiences in ROTC to develop
into a good officer, after all that's the overall goal. If I
don't get a pilot's commission. 111 be very disappointed in myself, but I wouldn't give up my career.
"If I can develop into a quality officer and get my
men to not just to work for me but to respect and work
with me, then 1 will be successful
The Portrait of Henry 'Hap'Arnold
in the ROTC lounge. Arnold wm instrumental in starting the U.S. Air Force.
 a familiar topic to Walker. "I've always
been told to surround myself with successful people,"
Walker finds such people in several places.
Besides his involvement in ROTC, Walker is a First
lieutenant in Arnold Air Society, a fraternal organization for ROTC cadets. He is also a member of Lamba
really empty," he said, keeping busy even then by
consistently bending down, picking up a leaf, tearing it
apart, letting it fall through his fingers and starting all
"I've always got to beinto Jomething,"said Walker,
who was involved in football, baud and student
government in high school. "But sometimes there
arent enough hours in the day. I have to say 'stop the
world. I want to get oftt'but it's problems that keep me
alive."
But some problems — world problems — could do
anything but keep Walker alive. These types of problems can kill, as demonstrated by the lists of dead
Marines that recently appeared in newspapers across
The nation.
"I could be going a lot sooner than I thought, he
Mid, only days after it was announced that U.S. troops
had invaded Grenada. "But we want people to know
that weVe very conscioos of what we're doing. We
hope that we dont have to go to war, but as officers
well be very prepared to go."
Walker, far right, stands at attention *
Walker relaxes fat Ms fraternity roowa/
Photos by Robert Downing
Text by Sberyl Boss*
"
.