About ROTC on Veteran's Day
This Veteran's Day we gathered in the spirit of thanks and appreciation. The meeting began with guest Allie Harrison leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. A wonderful invocation was given by Justin Metcalf, who encouraged us to remember and pay tribute to our veterans, including his late grandfather who fought in World War II.
President Susan Hay Patrick asked all veterans or members with family members serving in the military stand and be recognized. All were greeted with a warm ovation. Susan also welcomed Brenda Thayer back from Scottsdale. Brenda presented the club with the banner from the Scottsdale Rotary Club. Brenda had a great time in Scottsdale, and reported that the luncheon meetings cost $25!
Susan Patrick also announced that Annie Meyer was recently married and is now Annie Gerken. Congratulations to Annie! And, Trevor Lewis was also recently married-on Hawaii. Congratulations to Trevor!
Susan Patrick announced that the 2010 Rotary International Convention is scheduled for June 20-23 in Montreal. Speakers will include Greg Mortenson of Bozeman, the president of Heifer International, the CEO of the Boys Scouts, and Dolly Parton. What a lineup!
Sergeant at Arms David Bardwick welcomed Frank D'Angelo to the meeting, and introduced Susan Patrick's guest Allie Harrison. David then shared what he called "Rotary trivia:" Julie McFarland is afraid of star-shaped fruit, and Adele Gibbs can't get the song "Rhinestone Cowboy" out of her head. (What David failed to mention is that Adele hadn't thought of the song-whatsoever-since the last time David mentioned it! ARGH!)
David Bardwick also said that after seeing the recent news of the terrible event in California (a girl was repeatedly raped outside a school dance) he was moved to do something locally. David has begun discussions with the schools, and with Jim Clark, and others, and wonders whether we as a service club might offer our services to help out at special events, to be an extra set of eyes and ears. He asked for a show of hands to assess interest, and many members showed their support for the idea. David will have more to follow on this.
Ramey Kodadek announced that the Youth Homes Christmas program will be December 16th, and she had wish list/gift tags from the kids at the two Partnership Youth Homes. The tags and lists were passed around and will be available at coming meetings as well. If you can help, please select a tag and provide the appropriate gift(s) by the December 16 meeting-they should be unwrapped in a brown bag or a gift bag. If you have any questions, please check with Ramey.
Susan Patrick announced that the Board met this morning prior to the regular meeting, and may be changing its meeting time-more to follow.
Susan Patrick announced that there are still some sponsorships outstanding for the Who's Who Revue and payment is needed so that the proceeds can be split with the Montana Repertory Theatre. Many of the outstanding sponsorships are from Sunrise Rotarians-please take care of this ASAP!
Susan announced that the November 25th meeting will be an informal "eat and greet" with no formal program or speaker. And, next week's meeting-November 18th-will be held at the College of Technology (off South Avenue). This is the annual pre-Thanksgiving breakfast at the COT, with food prepared by the culinary students and staff. Please remember-don't come to the Blue Canyon on November 18th-meet at the College of Technology! Plans are also in the works for our holiday party at Cynthia Bryan's home-details to follow.
Susan announced that nominations are needed for Board service for the coming Rotary year. Please consider a leadership role, and see Susan if you have questions or are interested.
COOKIES: Susan Patrick had cookies for the following members today: Al Jensen (birthday!); Marshall Delano, Jim Betty and Carl Prinzing (MSR anniversaries of 16, 20 and 18 years, respectively); Chris Warden for the work on WWR; Justin Metcalf for the November invocations; Carol Gaub on her announced retirement; Gordie Campbell (wedding anniversary); and Trevor Lewis and Annie Meyer (now Gerken) on their recent marriages!
David Bardwick had a contribution to the Rotary cookie jar, and gave thanks for the three Sunrise Rotarians who stepped up to help his friend in Billings who needed a place to stay while undergoing medical treatment. In fact David's friend is staying at a place in Billings that belongs to a member of our club!
Susan Anderson provided the Rotary Minute, focusing again on Interact. Susan said that Interact was founded in 1962 through a challenge by the then RI president to find a way to encourage youth to do service work. The first club was in Melbourne, Florida. Interact is one of Rotary's fastest growing groups. There are more than 12,000 clubs in 132 countries with members ranging from 14-18 years.
Our Classification Talk was given by Club Treasurer Margot Belden. Margot is a real estate investor who is glad to be surviving in these challenging economic times. Margot moved to Montana three and half years ago from Jackson, Wyoming. A Rotarian in Wyoming, Margot joined our club when she came to Montana because of our focus on youth. Margot has one son and two grandkids (ages 10 and 12) who are the light of her life. She also has three cats! Her strongest character trait? Margot is tenacious. Margot loves tennis and is very proud that Missoula will soon have a new indoor tennis facility. Margot said she loves the Four Way Test, and applies it to her life outside Rotary. She also uses HALT to take care of herself and pays attention when she is hungry, angry, lonely or tired. Thanks, Margot, for all you do for our club!
Bill St. John then introduced our speaker, LTC Joe Yakawich, Professor and Department Chair of Military Science at UM. Born and raised in Butte, LTC Yakawich enlisted in 1983 and graduated ROTC at Montana Tech in Butte. He is married and has three children who are the "love of his life."
Though he says he is "really a tanker," LTC Yakawich leads the ROTC program at UM, and has programs at Carroll College and Montana Tech. LTC Yakawich shared some details at ROTC, the program at UM and about the services in general.
LTC Yakawich explained that ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) began via the Morrill Act in 1862, and the birth of modern ROTC was in 1916 with the National Defense Act during WWI. LTC Yakawich shared some incredible statistics about WWI-a war in which he said there were huge sacrifices by so many, including the unsung heroes at home. In seven and a half months participating in WWI, the US had 116,000 killed in action and 204,000 wounded.
By WWII there were 100,000 ROTC officers serving in the military and in 1945 scholarship programs and stipends were added for junior and senior ROTC students. Since 1945, 330,000 men and women have been commissioned through ROTC. LTC Yakawich also shared that 75% of all officers commissioned today are from ROTC (from 273+ colleges and 600 partner schools). He said that 70,000 students take part in ROTC presently, with approximately 80 between UM and Carroll.
The UM ROTC program has a partnership with Kyrgyzstan which has allowed cadets to share and strengthens cultural awareness. LTC Yakawich said he encourages cadets to learn strategic languages. It is a goal to send 25 cadets for one month each year to a foreign country to study.
LTC Yakawich said the mission of ROTC is to recruit, retain, develop and commission cadets/officers with the following values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. He said that Rotary and the military services share a commonality in our selfless service.
Asked about PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and that we've heard so much about it since Vietnam, but not connected with WWI and WWII, LTC Yakawich said he believes it is not new, and believes it's just that we're tracking it more closely now. In response to a question, LTC Yakawich said he isn't sure when women were welcomed into ROTC, but he said it has been for the last 30 years at least. Today there is a fairly equal mix of men and women in the program.
Following this interesting program, we closed the meeting with a recitation of the Four Way Test and a reminder from Susan that the future of Rotary is in our hands. Susan also thanked LTC Yakawich for his program, and told him we'd be donating a dictionary in his name.
"Like a Rhinestone Cowboy.Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo.and offers coming over the phone."
DAVID!!