ROTC Students Comments

Person 1 - Kreda Singh (00:00):
My name is Kreda Singh. My name is Kreda Singh and I'm sorry for being nervous. The best experience I had in ROTC was FTX, field training exercise, the land navigation course. I mean, it's kind of like for really, really long, about 10 hours. We had to go twice. I didn't really enjoy looking for points as much as I enjoyed others take leadership. And in my group, there were three MS1s and one MS2. The first time I went to look for points, we really messed up. We only got like three or four points. And then we realized the mistakes we were making. And the MS2, he took responsibility and he took leadership. And the next time we came back, we had eight points. And that's what motivated me to become a leader. I wanted to know. I knew from that point that one day I'm going to be a leader and I'm going to help other people succeed in their goals. Thank you. Thank you.

Person 2 - Jerome Tapasaras (01:16):
Good morning, everyone. Good morning. My name is Jerome Tapasaras. I'm a nursing student at York College. And it is an honor for ROTC to be here. I thought this school would never have it. And one thing I'd like to say is that I thought I was a good swimmer before I joined the Army. And I'm actually a water safety instructor. And all that went down the drain when I took the combat water survival test. And, you know, I passed every test except for swimming with a rifle in my hand and having all this gear on me. I couldn't make it. I could not do it. But I'd like to say that's not going to stop me. I promise you, once I'm done and once I'm commissioned, I'll put the U.S. Olympic team to shame. And I will be the best I will be. And I will not dishonor this college. Thank you for the opportunity.

Person 3 - Cadet Lee (02:19):
Morning. My name is Cadet Lee. I'm a CUNY Baruch student. So being here at York, I didn't think that I would ever get an opportunity to have that experience where I could also join the military. Because I knew I wanted more than just that regular college experience. I wanted to be a little more than just that average student athlete. So having this opportunity to do ROTC at York and CUNY now, it's a dream come true. I mean, although we're still new, we're small in size. We're small in size, but we're large at heart. Good morning.

Person 4 - Cadet Janza (03:06):
I'm Cadet Janza. And one of the best ROTC experience was also when I was in the group with Sing and FTX for line navigation. And, yeah, we had our difficulties going through line navigation and all that. But what I really picked up in this program was, like, looking forward towards my goals and having achieved them. Because I don't have that much support for my family being part of the ROTC. But it's something I want to do. And I will prove to them that it's worth it. And it's not just serving a nation. It's something that I want to do for a living. Thank you.