I am a freshman in the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps program majoring in Nursing. Even though I have only a single semester of experience with the ROTC program, I already know that my involvement will develop me into a competent leader.

Robert Graf argued in the Jan. 27 Tribune that ROTC has no place at Marquette. He mentions St. Ignatius' conversion from a life by the sword to a life in the name of the Lord. Graf then claims that ROTC "trains young men and women to fight this immoral war" against Iraq. What he fails to realize, however, is that we are in a War on Terror. Iraq and terror are not synonymous. While ROTC does train its members to be proficient and professional leaders in the military, he fails to realize that ROTC is primarily an academic program where aspiring officers learn about teamwork, leadership, physical fitness, and the history and customs of our great military.

He then calls upon students to "rise up and tear down the walls of institutional militarism." In essence, he is calling for the termination of a program training the leaders and defenders of tomorrow.

The only thing he says that I can consider sensible is that "there is nothing inherently wrong with military training," but why not at Marquette? The four pillars of Excellence, Faith, Leadership and Service uphold Marquette's mission, and frankly, the ROTC programs are among the best sources of all four of these qualities.

Our training as cadets and midshipmen ready us to be unparalleled proactive Leaders striving for Excellence. We often volunteer on campus and throughout the community with a deep sense of service. In addition, the MU mission statement strives for faith in not only Christianity, for we are not an exclusively Catholic school, but also in "human intelligence," which is greatly fostered through ROTC. Therefore, removing ROTC from our campus would only weaken the pillars of Marquette's mission statement.

So Graf, while most ROTC members would most likely disagree with what you had to say, we will — and we literally do — defend to the death your right to say it.