The path to lemonade, part III

Read part I and II so you're not lost!

---

I actually goofed in my last post...I'm having to recall 12-year-old information! Here's the fix:

I started ROTC second semester of my freshman year, not my sophomore year. I had temporarily stopped taking all my music classes and filled in my time with ROTC. I actually really enjoyed it. It wasn't too difficult and I was obligated to absolutely nothing until my junior year. I learned the typical customs and courtesies and how to wear the uniform, but I also learned to appreciate the military. In 1998, my generation hadn't really experienced a war and the military wasn't in the forefront of my thoughts. Memorial Day was a day off from work and school and I didn't even know what Veteran's Day was. I was ignorant and blissfully unaware of what the military did/does. My ignorance turned into appreciation the semester I marched in military formation and donned the blue uniform. For the first time in my life I read a Medal of Honor citation. (If you've never read a citation, take the time to do so now. You will be moved beyond appreciation.)

I decided then and there to keep up with ROTC to join the military, not to get a scholarship, but because I genuinely wanted to serve. It didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't going to get a scholarship as a music major and during my freshman spring semester I realized I wanted to go back to music. When I was again informed that a change to engineering could ensure a scholarship my response was, "no." I had made up my mind to stay in ROTC and be a music major. The detachment officers didn't think much of my decision and when I was asked about it, my response was, "I'm not going to be a cookie cutter officer. I'm going to go to college to get the degree I want and still be active in ROTC." I think Capt. Skalnik laughed at me. He later told me, after he pinned on my 2nd lieutenant rank, that he needed to apologize to me. He had discounted the fact that I would stick with it and actually get commissioned. He told me that I proved him wrong. That when I sat in his office years ago with long, long hair and a music major transcript that he didn't think I would make it. Ahh, the proverbial, "don't judge a book by its cover" outcome.

So, as I started my sophomore year - knowing full well that I wouldn't get a military scholarship - I started applying for other scholarships again. I received the CIOS interest-free loan and my Stafford loans for my sophomore year, as well as the rest of my four-year scholarships. I moved out of the dorm and into an apartment with friends. It was significantly cheaper and working summers and breaks paid for my living expenses. Between ROTC and being a music major, I was swamped with classes but I was having fun. I studied, retook my failed history class (and still only made a C+, I believe...) and stayed VERY busy. From sun up 'til sun down, my schedule was packed and the detachment didn't understand why music majors were in class all the time (I didn't either!) and in class more than the engineering majors. In the Spring semester, marching band was gratefully over and I was able to dedicate a lot more time to ROTC. Apparently, this caught the eye of the lieutenant colonel in charge of the detachment, Lt. Col. Hillson. I remember I had just finished clarinet class (yes, that is what it was called) and I had an email message indicating I was to report to Lt. Col Hillson. I remember being scared to report in to him! A million things were running in my head. What did I do wrong? What does he want? Was I in trouble?

I reported to him and he was his usual jovial self and started talking to me about scholarships. I remember I replied to him that I knew I wouldn't ever get one and that I was OK with that. I wanted to join the air force to serve and that a scholarship wasn't necessary. He then told me that he could make a scholarship happen for me. As commander of the detachment, he had one Commander's Choice Leadership Scholarship that he could give to any one student.

And he had selected me.

I was stunned and he began to talk about the scholarship and what it entailed. It was too late to get it my sophomore year, despite that it was a three-year scholarship, but that I could get it for my junior and senior years. Wanna know what the scholarship gave me?

-$15,000 a year to cover tuition and fees (which, at the time, combined with my other scholarships, DID cover all my tuition)
- A book stipend each semester
- And once I completed Field Training (AFROTC version of Boot Camp), $200 a month in my bank account. (Incidentally, this was available with or without the scholarship to anyone who stayed with the program.)

I sat there and began to cry. I think Lt. Col. Hillson was confused and he asked me if I was OK.

I was better than ever.

The scholarship wasn't mine until I completed a few steps - physicals, take the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test, get sworn in, etc. But the scholarship was mine if I wanted it but we had to work fast.

That summer, I took the tests I needed to take, I attended Field Training, took summer school and got sworn into the air force. I ended my sophomore year with $10,500 in debt and started out my junior year accumulating not a dime more of debt. My junior and senior year were now fully covered and I was getting a monthly stipend that also covered my apartment expenses.

It's still amazing when I think about it.

Had a computer error not occurred, I wouldn't have ever joined ROTC and I would have never gotten the scholarship that I did.

Amazingly, this isn't the end of the story. It gets much, much better.