The War Interview

For One Student, Military Service Means More.

James Williams had a full ride to Holy Names University for volleyball, but he turned it down in favor of potential military service. Williams chose the life of a student under the social pressures of military association over the often glamorized life of the student athlete. He turned down a full scholarship to a university so that he could attend University of San Francisco as a student in the ROTC department.
One might wonder why a young man would pay to attend a university that is dominated by anti-war sentiment, when he could have gone to college for free and played sports. For Williams, the military service comes first. “I think the worst thing people just continue to say to me is when they’ll ask ‘Are you in ROTC? Oh, I’m sorry,’ that’s the reaction I get,” Williams said. “No, I signed up for this. People think it’s a last choice, but personally I gave up a full ride. Volleyball was just something to pay for college, I really don’t like it.”
After graduation, Williams plans on commissioning into the army as a Chemical Officer, where he will specialize in chemical and nuclear warfare. He then will be in charge of teaching chemical and nuclear weaponry to soldiers.
Williams’s father retired in the army, and he has had a strong military presence growing up. “I always wanted to join the military, specifically the army. A lot of people told me to go the route of college, and become an officer rather than right out of high school and getting enlisted,” Williams said. Although being in the line of fire is something that he has though about before, he knows that when that day comes, he’ll be prepared. The camaraderie that he has experienced while in ROTC has been an encouraging step in his goal of becoming an officer in the United States Army.