ROTC Military Ball shares veterans' stories with the future of the armed forces
Megan McBride is the fourth generation of her family to attend military balls, but the first to be a female in uniform.
The Mount Pleasant sophomore, whose father was in the Air Force, was one of nearly 300 attendees at Friday night’s Military Ball.
“It’s important because it brings us all together,” McBride said. “We do a lot of stuff to honor the veterans … these are all CMU alumni, they could be us in 20 years.”
Harold Richardson, a 1965 alumnus, S. Dean Roberts, a 1955 alumnus, and Scott Haraburda, a 1983 alumnus, were inducted into the Hall of fame at the banquet, hosted by the Chippewa Battalion of the ROTC at Comfort Inn and Suites, 2424 S. Mission St.
Stories from men like the three inspired McBride to join the National Guard.
“Between my grandfather and my father and most of the men that I hunt with that are vets … seeing the people that they are, that’s the kind of person I want to be,” she said. “It’s just a really high honor and just seeing that and appreciating that I knew it was something I wanted to do with my life.”
Other cadets didn’t grow up knowing what the armed forces would be like.
Farmington Hills freshman Ryan Sharp decided he wanted to join the army in sixth grade, when he saw “Saving Private Ryan.”
“I’m interested in practicing infantry right now,” he said. “It’s not as glamorous as you think.”
He said he likes the ROTC for the tight-knit group he gets to experience at college, which many other freshmen are not submerged in.
He is part of the color guard, which carried Michigan and U.S. flags into the banquet. The group trains about four hours a week.
“It’s kind of a culture shock coming from an upper-middle class liberal family,” Sharp said. “It makes college a lot more interesting.”
Traverse City Senior Mike Baker was looking at the other end of his ROTC career.
“I was a military kid growing up,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to make a career out of it, but I’ve always seen it as an option.”
It may have been his last military ball as an ROTC officer, but he wasn’t relaxing throughout it.
The ball is a project for juniors to plan in preparation for leading more projects the next year.
“I was the executive officer of planning last year,” Midland senior Harmony McCoy said. ”You realize how much work it actually takes to organize everything.”
