Injrotc

This is in regards to something that happened awhile back and i just refound the email that i sent. This is word for word what I sent to my NJROTC teachers and the principal of the school. I sent this Friday may 19th 20091


To Top and Ms. Phelps, I hope you both know that I respect you. To Lt, I would have confronted you in person about this during class today, but I was too worked up to think clearly. I didn't want to do something I would later regret.I also realize the irony of that statement while i'm writing this email, and I fully understand if you want me to be removed from the unit come monday. One last thing before I begin. It is only me, and my perspective being put to page so to speak in this email. No one else. I feel it is important that if anyone gets in any kind of trouble for this it is me.2

I would like to call attention to Mr. Robinson's leadership. Admittedly, I have been in the unit less then a full year. But I have heard rumers. Every teacher has the right to remove kids from the class, but I don't think they have the right to make a student, who will remain anonymous for the purpose of this email, to do push ups as a reprimand or to hold them in the class room until they do it, especially when they need to leave and get to work. After a fiasco that I don't feel needs to be mentioned, Lt informed the class that he was changing things and started to contradict himself. He said that we were in fact a student led organization, but he has so far taken much of the power away from leaders who he helped to elect. There have been PT days where whole platoons didn't go out to PT because it was either barely raining, or just wet outside. The program is having a hard enough time keeping its P.E. credit as it is. On the same topic, in the syllabus it says clearly that if a student does not wish to participate in what is going on, they may walk the track for half credit. Mr. Robinson has just told us that he is changing that. I am not debating whether or not it is ethical or what have you, I am simply stating that the rule should stay in place until the end of the year. Next year the new rule can go into effect. One thing Mr. Robinson likes to point out to us is that 1 in every 5 teens is out of shape. That is a problem to be sure, but the ROTC program is about more then uniform inspections and physical fitness. One of the key reasons I joined the unit was because I had low self esteem and my friends had success with this through ROTC.But the unit has low morale because there are a great many changes going on at once and its a major culture shock. I can understand the novelty of getting our unit up to a military like proficency, but we are still civillians. There has to be some lee-way, some room for error or at least a correction without an immediate response. There are a few seniors who have been slacking off, but that doesn't mean that we are incapable of leading ourselfs. Top has trained those who have been around for a while to be able to lead the platoon in case both NSI and SNSI happen to be absent, as was the case today. But Mr. Robinson's, who showed up 15 minutes before the end of class, first reaction was to jump down our throats as if we were unable to manage the simplist of tasks. People are going to start leaving the unit, a few at first, but then its going to snowball. I would like to try and halt this progression, if not reverse the effects. In first semester we had high morale, and people wanted to hang around and even a few joined at the semester change. If it is possible to go back to that, with a few differences, I am quite sure that morale will pick up and our numbers will start to increase again. Lt, I respect you for the position you are in, but I don't agree with how your handling the situation.3

Thank all three of you for the time I have taken from your day. I hope that I have made some impact in the way that these things have been going. Top, Lt, if you want me to be removed from the unit, inform me on monday and I will walk myself down to the counselours office and remove myself from the class.4

Mike Johnson