Editor's note: Mark Larson is a member of the Army ROTC on campus.

"Just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the Army, but a more alarmist name would be… The Killbot Factory." So go the immortal words of Kent Brockman in a particularly good episode of 'The Simpsons.'

That quote perfectly fits the ridiculous sentiment behind last Friday's protest against the "Marquette University Department of Military Science." This is a little amusing because no such organization exists by that name, though what they meant to say essentially was shut down Marquette's Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Their argument was that it trains young men and women to fight in an unjust war in Iraq and that since Marquette is Catholic it should not support such an organization.

I tried to talk to some of the protesters to hear some substance behind their slogans and signs. I am always willing to listen to a thorough and well-thought out argument even if I disagree with it. Sadly, I was not met with one. Not only was their pamphlet full of inaccuracies, particularly their complete misinterpreting of a paragraph from a U.S. Army manual explaining Army values, but also their knowledge of the war and realities on the ground were laughable.

I'll give them that their hearts were in the right place, which is to say they think war is bad, but then again, most people do. Some of the solutions they offered were very naive, including bringing the troops home and letting diplomacy do its work.

Yes, the answer was that simple. Excuse me? Isn't that what we've been trying to do for the past few years? The reality is much more complicated than slogans and simple statements.

My biggest problems with the protestors weren't that they were against the war – the majority of Americans no longer support the war – but their targets and arguments were highly questionable. First was their choice of "role models," an Austrian conscientious objector who was killed because he would not join the German Army on the grounds that the war was unjust. By having such an example, it implies that what we are doing in Iraq is similar to what the Nazis did during World War II. Last I checked, we don't have Einsatzgruppen death squads roaming the countryside killing at random in Iraq like the Nazis had in Russia.

My other problem was ROTC as the target. One of the claims I heard was that cadets were being trained to go and destroy Iraq.

Really? You can feel free to look in the course catalog and I don't think you find Pillaging and Marauding in Iraq 101 anywhere in there. The phrase "Support the troops, oppose the war" has been the most recent way for anti-war protesters to shield themselves from accusation of being unpatriotic, but going after ROTC is not supporting the troops. Attacking students who want to serve their country and have nothing to do with policy-making is wrong. If you have a problem with the war take it to the civilian leadership of this country, the military simply follows the orders they are given.

I doubt you'll find many ROTC cadets who are excited about the prospect of going to Iraq, but they will do what is asked of them. This also brings me to another offensive claim that I heard: ROTC is somehow bribing students to join by offering scholarships. True, some cadets may not be able to afford college without them, but to imply that there could be no other reason to join is ridiculous. Apparently patriotism and service to country are foreign notions to them.

Simply put, if you support the troops and also agree with Marquette's mission to create leaders of moral character, is it not Marquette's moral responsibility to ensure that our soldiers have officers of that very character?