ROTC is returning to ISB again and almost all the Thai boys are participating. To put it in better words, they have to participate, or else they will be forced to join the military. ROTC stands for Reserve Officers’ Training Corporation. It offers Thai male citizens the opportunity to train like the army and it is an alternative to military service. ROTC is military training that is mandatory in general. It can be useful for some, but is generally useless for most.

It does not affect sophomores and juniors as much since they experienced this training before and they are used to it, but for freshmen it is completely new. Some freshmen do not want to do it because it is time-consuming. They have to give up their whole day on Saturday to train when they could have used that time to rest or do something more useful that could benefit them.

Lorenzo Feroci is a freshman who is Italian-Thai. However, he still needs to attend ROTC since he has a Thai passport. When asked about his opinions on ROTC training, he replied, “I do not get why we have to attend ROTC because we just have to train really hard. They even make us cut our hair which I find unnecessary because it does not make us run faster or get any stronger. The military have so much control over us nowadays and I think this needs to be changed. I believe ROTC should be voluntary.”

Sam Limsuwannarot is a Thai Freshman and he is also attending ROTC. Sam said, “If I had the option, I would not join ROTC since it is a waste of time.” Sam adds that he would rather “stay home” and do something “more useful like studying” than just going to ROTC and “waste our time training.”

I am also a Thai Freshman, but I am not attending ROTC. For me, I chose to not do ROTC because I have lots of things to do on Saturday, and if I spent my time going to ROTC, I will miss those things which could benefit me in the future. I usually have a golf tournament on Saturday, which I have lots of passion for. Golf can benefit me in the future because I can become a professional golfer and earn money. I also have my math tutor on Saturdays, which can benefit me in school. ROTC will not benefit me like this in the future.

In conclusion, ROTC is not necessary, as some freshmen say that it is a waste of time and it does not benefit them. Several freshmen at ISB have suggested that ROTC should be voluntary so that people who has time to attend can do it, but the people who do not have the time can just skip it. As I have said, ROTC cannot benefit our future, rather, it can destroy it. This is because, when a war occurs, people who have done ROTC will be forced to join the military to fight in the war. Therefore, ROTC should be voluntary because it is time-consuming, life risking, and it will not benefit many people’s future.

Jeff M.