When senior Doug Pardella tells people that his college plans involve the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), people often react with a look of incredulity.
“I’m a drama freak, and I do a lot of public speaking things, so most people are very surprised to find that I’m applying for NROTC,” Pardella said. “My drama teacher told me that I’m the first person who’s ever had the issue of having to find a theater college that also has NROTC.”
Pardella represents one of a few current Redwood seniors who plan on joining the military after high school.
Senior Bret Seidler’s future also involves becoming a part of the military. Like Pardella, he plans on joining the NROTC.
“I’ve thought about joining the Marine Corps since around eighth grade,” Seidler said. “But I hadn’t really started thinking about it seriously until the second semester of my junior year, and then I made a full decision.”
According to Seidler, his grandfather was a colonel in the army, and hearing stories about him from his grandmother piqued his interest.
Senior Henry Mesker plans on joining the military immediately after high school. However, Mesker’s path to the military differs from those of Seidler and Pardella.
Seidler and Pardella are both applying for an NROTC scholarship, which would pay full college tuitions and provide a venue for recipients to become officers in the Navy or Marine Corps.
Mesker, on the other hand, has already signed an eight-year infantry contract for the U.S. Marine Corps that includes four years of active duty and four years of being in the reserve.
According to Paula Vantrease, usually no more than two seniors enlist in the military directly after graduating from Redwood in a given year. Mesker is currently the only senior already enlisted.
Mesker said what most attracted him to the military were the values he would gain by joining.
“I like the qualities the military has to offer,” Mesker said. “Leadership, becoming a man, becoming independent, but also learning how to work as a team, the brotherhood, and the camaraderie.”
More specifically, Mesker said he was drawn to the Marine Corps because of its reputation.
“The Marines are the smallest branch of the military,” Mesker said. “So you know that when you’re a Marine they didn’t just accept you because they needed bodies. They knew that you could handle the challenge.”
Seidler said the Marines also stood out to him as the strongest branch of the military.
“The values of the Marine Corps appeal to me the most,” Seidler said. “I have a lot of mentors that are Marines, and I really look up to them and how they carry themselves.”
Pardella said that he was interested in the military because of both his family ties and the ideals of the armed forces. One of Pardella’s grandfathers was a career Marine, while the other was a captain in the Army.
“My grandfather always said that he believed that every able person should do two years of military service,” Pardella said. “One day he was talking about his days in ROTC and in the army and he said his whole two-year spiel again, and I thought, ‘I could actually make a difference here.’”
One of the ideals that Pardella was attracted to was the greater purpose of the military.
“People in the military are looking out for a cause bigger than just themselves,” Pardella said. “They’re looking out for their country.”
Pardella said that he chose the Marines because of their dedication to their work.
“You can see a Marine from a mile away,” Pardella said. “They’re the first people into battle and the last ones out. They just stand out. They’re some of the most upstanding citizens in the country, and that is something that I would like to be a part of.”
