Joe: I’m here with Brendan O’Connor, ROTC cadet. Today we’re gonna ask him a couple
questions, and see what a day in his life is like. Brendan, why did you start ROTC?
Brendan: I think in high school I always kind of had an interest in the military and doing
something in that area, and then I also really didn’t want to have to deal with paying for college
or being in a lot of debt, so I found ROTC and that was the perfect way to hit both of those.
Joe: Take us through a day in your life. What do you do as a cadet, Sienna?
Brendan: So, about four days a week, every day of the week, Tuesday through Friday, I’ll get up
for PT in the morning, usually 4:45 to 5:00 is when I get up, then I will go to PT. I’m on the Ranger Challenge Team, so we train separately from the rest of the company, and we could be doing anything from, most of the time it’s physical activity, a lot of strenuous physical activity, but we also do skills-based things.
Joe: How have you learned to manage your time with ROTC and being a student?
Brendan: I try to figure out the day before, like what assignments I have due, or even like
several days before in terms of like assignments. I’ll write, you know, all the assignments I have due for the week in, not a Google form, Google Calendar. I will definitely try to stay away from my phone whenever I’m doing work that’s for school.
Joe: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned from doing ROTC at Sienna?
Brendan: I would say always be prepared, whether it’s a test, physical or mental, there is nothing that you can’t do if you’re prepared for it. If you look up what you’re supposed to do, if you talk to people who’ve done it before, yeah, definitely always be prepared.
Joe: What advice do you give students who are looking to join ROTC?
Brendan: In the beginning, it can certainly be confusing, especially with tactics and stuff like
that, but once you start to grasp it, once you start to open up to people and talk to people in the program, you’ll realize that everyone’s super nice. It’s just a really great environment. Nobody expects too much of you right off the bat.