McNary High School’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program ended in May of this year. Three months later, a successor was announced: National Defense Cadet Corps.
A forerunner to the JrROTC program, it is essentially identical to it with just one exception: The NDCC is funded internally by the schools that opt for a military training system like JROTC but without any financial assistance from the Department of Defense.
Schools bear all costs associated with the program, including military instructor salaries, uniforms, training materials, and any other program expenses. The NDCC program provides schools that do not qualify for a JROTC unit an opportunity to provide a similar program.
McNary’s ROTC program was ended after it was determined it no longer qualified due to the low number of enrollees and school district budget cuts.
The National Defense Cadet Corps was suggested by the Department of Defense and the Air Force, a replacement program with less stringent requirements, that offered flexibility for McNary High School.
“They (U.S.Air Force) came back to us and said, ‘By the way, we’ve got this program, Air Force National Defense Cadet Corps that might give you enough flexibility to continue a presence of Air Force.’” said McNary principal Scott Gragg.
Unlike JROTC, the new program allows instructors to teach other courses rather than cadet corps only. The NDCC program can enroll up to 50 students (as opposed to a required 100 students under JROTC.)
“We’ll have two classes, where students are involved in that program. Then that teacher can teach whatever else they’re qualified for. You could teach other leadership classes, you could do robotics for the entire school, drones for the entire school,” said Gragg.
Robotics and drone instruction is on the menu for the future.
The hope is that the new program will interest enough students and a return of JROTC is possible. McNary students will not be required to enroll in the NDCC program if they wish to take courses in robotics and drones, opening popular courses to the entire student body.
Because the National Defense Cadet Corps is limited to 50 students, it will be up to Senior Staff Sergeant Stephan Hammond to determine who can be in the program.
“My guess is, it going to be former JROTC program students are probably going to have first dibs at those 50 seats,” Gragg said. “Once we
do that, then we can create a demand by having a waiting list.”
Hammond is returning to McNary to helm NDCC; previously he was a leader with JROTC. He said the new cadet program will have similar activities to the old program: color guard duty, rifle and community service.
Former JROTC cadet, senior Lincoln Isom, has been selected Commander for the new school year. Isom is excited about his new role.
“As the incoming Commander, I am most looking forward to getting to start a new program. It is really interesting to have the opportunity to start something completely from the ground up,” he said.
Isom is hopeful for the future of NDCC. “We should focus on building up this new program with the students we have now. If we do that successfully, more kids will come,” he said about getting new stu- dents interested.
After JROTC was ended in May, cadets had the option to transfer to North Salem High School to enroll in its Army ROTC program; a handful of students took that option, but want to return to McNary to take part in the NDCC program. Hammond said that a misconception of cadet programs is that enrollees must join the
U.S. military. There is no correlation between high school cadet programs and service in the military.
The National Defense Cadet Corps is a leadership course, teaching citizenship, civics and community involvement.
Contact Publisher Lyndon Zaitz:
[email protected] or 503-390-1051
SUBSCRIBE TO GET KEIZER NEWS — We report on your community with care, depth, fairness, and accuracy. Get local news that matters to you. Subscribe today to get our daily newsletters and more.
