Some Bruins’ futures are in service

  Photo courtesy of Kyle Hartman Kyle
Hartman (left) and a friend pose for a picture. Hartman is
a Naval ROTC student in UCLA’s program.

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

While most of the nation is only speculating the possibility of
going to war after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some students
have serious dreams of one day serving the country.

Students enrolled in UCLA’s Reserve Officer Training Corps
receive technical instructions they hope will enable them to report
to active duty in the future.

After graduation, Eamonn Oley will undergo six months of
training to be a surface warfare officer, the person who helps
direct the path of the ship with a pair of binoculars.

Oley, who is part of UCLA’s Naval Reserve Officer Training
Corps, dreams of being placed on an Arleigh Burke Destroyer, the
same type of ship as the USS Cole, which in October of last year,
suffered a terrorist bombing that killed 17.

“It’s the most advanced ship in the world and I just
think it would be amazing to be at the forefront of technological
innovations and international developments,” he said.

Oley, who doesn’t come from a military family, first got
involved with the program at UCLA to see the world, until it became
something more.

“I realized that I not only get to see the world, but I
get to interact with a wide variety of other people, he said.
“I’ve been to Southeast Asia and have met people from
completely different backgrounds different to my relatively
sheltered suburban background.”

For Kyle Hartman, a fascination with planes coupled with a
family history of serving in the military explained his choice to
serve the country. The fourth-year molecular cell and developmental
biology student is also part of UCLA’s NROTC program.

“I’ve been interested in aviation all my life; the
military has the absolute best aircraft, he said. “The added
bonus is I get to have fun and do something exciting while serving
the Nation.”

He wants to be a pilot after he graduates, and to do so, he will
have to spend eight years training. Preparation for becoming a
pilot is more costly, so the time obligated to serve and the
training lasts longer.

Last week’s events served to reinforce Hartman’s
decision to serve in the armed forces.

“I don’t plan on making this a life career, but
it’s definitely important for me to serve country,”
Hartman said. “I’ll serve the time that is asked of
me.”

Hartman found out about the program through his brother, who was
involved in his college’s ROTC program and is now an aviator
completing his training.

His brother, who is stationed on Whidbey Island off the coast of
Washington state, will be flying an EA-6B Prowler, a jet used in
electronic warfare. During a missile attack, this airplane is the
first to be sent because it destroys enemy radar.

This allows other jets carrying bombs to be protected and go
undetected by the enemy.

“It’s kind of scary that my brother is doing
that,” Hartman said. “I think my brother feels the same
as everyone else ““ he’s eager to defend his country and
fight if the country needs him to.”

His great grandfather was part of the Marine corps in World War
I, where he fought numerous different battles.

His grandfather, who served in World War II, was involved in
getting supplies ready for the invasion of Japan, Hartman said.

“If they didn’t drop the atomic bombs they would
have had a land invasion of mainland Japan,” he said.

Because the United States dropped the nuclear bomb,
Hartman’s grandfather was able to go home after a few
months.

One week after the incidents that turned the country into one
heading out to war, UCLA’s Navy and Marines Corps., Air Force
and Army ROTC programs held orientations for new students involved
in the program.

Cadet command spokesman for the Army ROTC, Paul Kotakis, said
becoming part of the military service is not an instantaneous
process.

“If someone has the notion based on certain events,
“˜I really want to serve,’ there is not an instant
granting,” Kotakis said.

Furthermore, he said the ROTC is a program that requires a
minimum involvement of two years, where there is no obligation for
students to serve in the armed forces unless they have signed a
contract of financial aid with the military.

For Oley and Hartman, who won’t be called to active duty
until they graduate, the future may hold the key fulfilling their
dreams.