More joining rank= s of ODU Army ROTC program=

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03:51 PM EDT on Frida= y, March 28, 2008

Reported by: Mike Gooding<= o:p>

NORFOLK -- Old Dominion University’s Army ROTC program is now ranked as the nation’s sixth largest battali= on when compared to the nearly 300 college programs in the country.

180 cadets fill the ranks of this 39-year-old program – a far cry = from the 1970s and 1980s when the program had half that number.

“You read stories th= at say there's a war going on, that people are not as inclined to serve. But what = I've found is cadets that come in here are very excited," says LTC Bill Bro= wn.

They get hand-to-hand Army combatant training. They also get scholarship money from the Army and tuition assistance from the National Guard in excha= nge for a four-year active duty commitment after college.

Click to watch ODU Army ROTC story

LTC Brown says those incentives have helped attract young people to the program.

"We’ve brought in 19 cadets this last year with scholarships, where that had been 7 or 8 previously.”

"I'm very excited,” says Sterling Montgomery. “Af= ter I graduate, I only have a month left here and then I'm going right away to officer basic course."

The cadets say they realize the possible danger, but that doesn’t = stop them.

"It's one of those things you just have to push aside and keep driv= ing on with the mission,” notes Cari Kelso. <= /p>

He was just 15 on 9/11, the day planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and when hijackers ran United Airlines Flight 93 into the grou= nd in Pennsylvania.

“I’d actually decided before that point that I wanted to go = in the military. And if anything, it kind of help it along and gave me even more motivation to be here where I am today and go into the military,” Kelso adds.

“It's just something I can do to serve my country. Somebody's got = to do it and I'm willing to do it," says Caitlin Smith.

Initially, Katrina Mullins' parents were against her joining the militar= y.

Also Online

ODU Army ROTC Website

ODU = Navy ROTC Website

“I knew in my heart I really wanted to do that. And so, I told the= m, with or without your support, I’m going to do this. And I’d rea= lly like to have their support. And, they’ve come around. They really love that I’m doing this because they realize how happy it makes me,” she reports. "It challenges me, but then at the end of the day, when I realize what I've accomplished, I'm proud of myself.

Sung Kim says there are many decisions to make. “I don't know where I'm getting stationed. I don't know what I'm branching into, all this other stuff," adding that he’s ready to serve this country.

As for what it means to him to be a part of ODU Army ROTC, Cadet Kelso s= ays "It means a lot. It’s a pride thing and I really enjoy the camaraderie that we built here starting freshman year. It will last a lifetime.”

ODU’s Navy ROTC program also has big n= ews.

With 183 sailors, Marines and Midshipmen, it’s the largest NROTC program on the East Coast. Combined with its Hampton University and Norfolk State University partners, there are more than 300 cadets, itR= 17;s ranked as the largest NROTC program in the United States.