English 101
Abstract
For this paper I wrote about the Navy ROTC program at North Carolina State University. I observed their physical training, a lab class, and their overall way of life. There are distinct differences from NROTC students versus regular college students. From sharing a common goal to wearing the same clothes, I show why NROTC is in fact a discourse community itself. I talk about what it is the members of this discourse community do that differs them from the regular college student as well as what the purpose or goal of this community is.
Introduction
The discourse community I chose to write about is NROTC. NROTC stand for Naval reserve officers’ training corps, and it is a way to get a college degree while simultaneously preparing to become a military officer. There is ROTC for all branches of the military, but I specifically looked at Navy and Marine ROTC unit at North Carolina State University for my discourse community. The purpose of NROTC is to develop students into naval officers during their time at college. There are two types of NROTC students, scholarship and college program. For those on scholarship, in the beginning of sophomore year, they must officially commit to the military, and are obligated to serve five years of service after college. Scholarship students get their tuition paid for as well as a monthly stipend that increases each year. College program student must officially commit at the beginning of their junior year, and are only obligated to serve three years of service. Other than that, there are no differences between college program and scholarship students.
NORTC students are required to keep a culture of fitness as well as academics. They must pass a physical fitness test twice a year, with different requirements depending on age. They also must maintain a gpa of at least a 2.0. A large majority of the students selected to be in the program major in something techincal, specifically engineering. Every student is required to take calculus one and two as well as physics one and two regardless of their major. Students that fail to meet the gpa requirements, fail a class, or fail a physical fitness test go to a review board process, where they could ultimately get kicked out if the staff sees fit.
The ultimate goal of NROTC is to prepare students to become Naval officers. Officers are required to have a four year degree and a good amount of officers come from ROTC. ROTC officers are as the youngest officers, so there is a lot of pressure to develop strong leaders in those four years. There are extra courses and summer missions the students must complete to gain as much experience possible and be as good an officer as they can be.
Interactive Description
During my interactive portion, quite a few things stood out to me. During the physical training part, the students had to meet and be lined up in their squads by five forty five in the morning. Each one of the students was required to wear either a blue sweatshirt and blue sweatpants, or a green sweatshirt and sweatpants, and everyone was required to wear a hat, gloves, and a glow belt. Blue is for the navy option and green is for the marine options. They line up in three rows of about eight to ten people in each row. The person on the end of the row is required for taking attendance and passing that information up to the students in charge. There is a very clear hierarchy of the community. The majority of the students are in the squads, with their squad leaders at the end. Then there is one person in charge of each squad who stands in front of everyone, followed by a person in charge of them. There is then one student who is ultimately in charge of everyone, roaming around to make sure all is well. Once the attendance is passed up through the hierarchy of students, they move to where they conduct their physical training. When they move, they all march in unison and the person in charge of the squad calls out a cadence and everyone in the squad repeats it back. They try and time their marching so that their left and right legs are both moving at the same time as everyone else. During physical training, I am assuming because they were indoors, many of the students took of their sweats. They again either had a yellow shirt and blue shorts if they were a navy option, or a green shirt and shorts if they were a marine option. They then moved onto the courts to play basketball.
During the lab that I observed, there were many things that made it different from a normal classes lab. To start off, they lined up the same way they did during physical training before the lab. They took attendance in the brickyard then marched into the navy classroom. They also were all wearing the same grey khaki uniform. The older students have more ribbons and decorations on their uniforms then the younger students. Once they all entered the building they had to remove their hats, and they sat down in their seats for a lecture on exercise and nutrition. When students have a question, they raise their hand and once they are called on they stand up and state their name then proceed to ask the question, using “sir or “ma'am” when speaking to their elders. It is a much more formal setting than a normal classroom.
Discourse Community
ROTC is a discourse community because all the members share a common goal and face the same challenges. All the members are ultimately in this community to become Naval officers after college. They try and reach their goal through a different style of college that separates them from the normal student. Everyone involved in this community is held to a certain standard they must meet, otherwise they are suspended or kicked out of the program. They are constantly being watched to make sure they are performing to this standard and not slacking. It is easy to distinguish the members of this community on certain days because of their clothing. On Tuesdays, they are required to wear an NROTC polo, and on Wednesdays a khaki uniform. They have specific classes just for them, as well as morning physical training a couple times a week. The members of this community all share the fact that they have a certain gpa within certain majors, and are help to some standard of physical fitness. One thing I did not mention with the uniform that everyone shares is haircut regulations. All the members are required to have their hair no longer than a set length and to be clean shaven at all times during the week.
When comparing NROTC to Gee’s definition of discourse communities, it is hard to distinguish between whether or not this is a primary or secondary discourse. I would argue that it is a primary discourse because to me it is a core socialization group of close friends. However, for some I could see the argument that it secondary because it is not necessarily “home based”. It would certainly fit under the category dominant discourse because there is a reward at the end. Once the four years are over all members will get the job they have been working for, so they will be getting the status of a naval officer as well as a salary.
There is a definite language that distinguishes NROTC students from others. When in the naval settings, individual letters are translated into whole words, called the phonetic alphabet. Members are supposed to refer to their elders as sir or ma’am. There are titles that the members have to call the active duty staff by, that regular students do not have to. For example a regular student would say “Mr. Lastname” where a NROTC student would have to say “Lieutenant Lastname”. There are countless of examples where NROTC students having not necessarily their own language, but speaking in a distinguished way.
Conslusion
Overall I would make the argument that NROTC is definitely a discourse community. There are many examples of things that members in this community do that distinguish them from the other members of society. It is easy to pick out students from this community from other student, some days more than others. I think this community does have some weird traditions as to how they all line up for attendance, and march instead of walk, and the way they talk sometimes. However I also am a fan of this discourse community. I personally think it is a great way to give someone both the college experience as well as prepare them for a military career. I actually am in this community but I have a conflicting class so I had never been to the lab before. I never knew how formal the setting was. I was surprised they had to line up in their squads to march to the classroom for attendance. I also was surprised by the procedure for asking questions, I thought that was a little unnecessary. Discourse communities are groups in which everyone has a common goal or values and work towards the same thing. NROTC definitely fits the definition and is a discourse community of its own.
Resources
Cutler, Thomas J., (2009), The Bluejacket’s Manual, Annapolis, Maryland: The United States
Naval Institute
"NROTC FAQ." NROTC FAQ. NROTCUGIT, 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.