Marquette is the only Jesuit university to host military officer training for all three military branches — Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force — for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 1968, Marquette students using nonviolent actions were able to open up the university to minority students. After this civil rights struggle, student attention was focused on the war in Vietnam. The Selective Service system, at the time, forced young men to make a choice to kill or be killed. Marquette students focused their attention on officer military training for the Vietnam War on campus, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Program.
Now in 2011, Marquette has an integrated student body, the involuntary Selective Service System was abolished in 1972 and most colleges and universities around the country have eliminated military training programs for war on campus.
The reasons public and private universities have eliminated military officer training programs on campus are largely threefold: academic, ethical and moral. The moral reason is because the military requires that military values take priority over religious values and conscience.
In addition, ROTC programs have been eliminated because university students can get full ROTC scholarships by taking military training courses off campus. Universities — Marquette included — can now receive all federal monies without choosing to host military training on campus.
Marquette has chosen otherwise, while at the same time, the military has radically changed its training techniques. They have added “reflexive killing,” killing without conscience and other training methods that violate Catholic teaching.
Of only 21 remaining Catholic universities in the country that host Army ROTC schools, only two of these freely choose to host all three schools for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Marquette is the only one that is a Catholic, Jesuit university (the other one with all three military programs is Notre Dame).
We — students, faculty, alumni and people of peace — can help stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by closing the schools of the Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at home. To be involved in “Breaking the Silence,” contact [email protected]
Robert Graf is a 1968 Marquette graduate
MU Veteran Alum • Feb 8, 2011 at 2:02 pm
As an infantry soldier who did a tour in Iraq, I was trained on reflexive fire (its not “reflexive killing”–such linguistic hyperbole shows me that you are not really interested in a debate). The drill enables one to identify an armed enemy and react before your enemy can do the same. It concentrates on proper target identification and using muscle memory with regard to manipulating your weapon. It is used in situations where if you don’t use the drill, you will be dead. It is NOT killing for the sake of killing, which is what Mr. Graf appears to believe.
This topic goes round and round every year. Mr. Graf is certainly free to believe what he does and to write articles expressing his beliefs. But I ask why does Mr. Graf want a military that is not a true cross section of the United States? Our military is at its best when it has a diversity of views and officers with a whole range of university backgrounds are vital to that process.
As an aside, Catholic priests do serve in the military. They do not stay on base simply performing mass, they also go on missions with their fellow soldiers and face the same dangers. By serving in the military as officers, are they violating Catholic teaching?
bobsyouruncle@sbcglobal. net • Feb 2, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Join us in making peace?