JROTC at SJS

[Blitzen]

If you build it.... Sam will join.

I have to read more about the Vanguard, but I could see her wanting to participate in something that would "make a difference" kind of thing.

[Mimi]

First off, let me quote from Ask Mimi:

What is the School's relationship with hero groups or law enforcement? What is the School stance on students functioning as "heroes?" Can these priviledges be revoked by the School?

Well, first off, it is probably a bit of a misconception that SJS trains its' students to become superheroes. But the motto of SJS is "Today's students are tomorrow's heroes." And therein lies the difference between "heroes" and "superheroes," maybe. Heroes need not fight epic battles across the multiverse. Heroes are people who act for the betterment of those around them.

SJS' chief goal is to educate young people with exceptionally unique special needs. And part of that is learning how to control one's power and use them responsibly. Not all the students are even capable of taking on Lord Recluse, so it's unreasonable to assume that gym class has "PvP 101" or anything. And let's also remember that there is college to consider: Mr. Conrads will be pretty dismayed if you decide to skip out on college so you can beat up some more Hellions.

However: SJS fully recognizes that there are students who feel a certain burden to help the world in a greater fashion than basic civic responsibility or putting out fires or whatever. There are students who might one day lead the fight against really serious bad guys. And the choice, ultimately, is up to the student. There are certainly staff members who will take students under their wing, as it were, teach them how to work as a team or solo, knowing full well the student intends to put him or herself in harm's way.

Officially, this does not happen.

As to law enforcement? Sure, some SJS alums have gone on into Hero Corps, or become Freedom Phalanx Reserve members. So there are contacts there to be had. I imagine "career day" is particularly interesting at SJS. However, even if Longbow sets up a table, you can be sure that General Electric will also be there, headhunting the next generation of super-genious R&D guys.

Now, to clarify the pre/post invasion thing...

Vanguard has never been much of a presence before i10. Students wouldn't *really* be familiar with them except their vaguely totalitarian billboards. Longbow and the organizations in the basement of City Hall were reasonably regular fixtures.

Now, after the Second Invasion, we've already been told Vanguard is going to be given a blank check from the UN to do whatever is necessary (and yeah, my money says something bad will happen as a result, but hey ). So a public swelling of support is almost certain.

[Jay Taggert]

To what mimi said in her post about "Career day"

We could use that as a school wide plot device to acutualy jumpstarting the "Join Vanguard" idea. As mentiond i dont think Vanguard has there nose in any sort of school JROTC program of any such nature.

I think its a matter of simply setting up an old student that went militarty and eventualy volinteard into the vangaurd ranks, whatever division I balive its called The Herald "The public relations" division of Vanguard. A school wide event could be held and the focus could be on one of the many booths set up during the event (I.E. Army Navy Mariens Airforce Vanguard Freedom Corps etc.). This way students atleast have something to go off of, weather it be this persons card or a pamphlet. A location to find this guy during the inviation. Students actualy setting up there carrear towards this volintary force.

The day the Inital invation happens, the students who do feel the need, and are compelled to leave the school atleast KNOW where to go they have a direction to head there story. It could explain alot of things than just comeing up with something out of the wild blue even though that the invation is mostly assumed no one knows about it and is a compleat suprise attack theres still compleat chaos.

[April]

April'll support the JROTC thingy since she'd think it'd be a good idea in those times. With enough peer pressure, she might even join it.

[Arkady Romanov]

Okay, Jess, sorry it took me of all people forever to add some input onto this.

I think, personally, the best choice would be a Cadet Vanguard Corps. It's so easy with the rhetoric that NPCs like Levantra throw around to assume your level 35 toon is a Member of Vanguard, especially with the badge and the ability to earn merits. And on that note, we also have the distinct possibility of full-on Vanguard uniform sets, and for those without the ability to procure a full-set post SL 35 (some 1000+ Merits can take abit to earn) There's the new costume sets introduced that may serve as better uniforms for such a club (Stealth 1 and 2) that we can work on together, once we have the go ahead. Rank systems can be fairly easy to set up. I know a few of us are current or prior military and deciding on a proper mixture of rank, both enlisted and officer, for the cadet corp should be fairly easy.

Hope to see a bunch of you there!

[Storm Scream]

Ok, as Mimi has said in a few posts AND at OH last night...

"Joining Vanguard," for us, will be like joining a "Junior Vanguard" division. I know the phrase "Welcome to the most dangerous club on campus" was said a couple times as well.

Because I10 hit yesterday, and because of all the discussion fueled by the Vanguard/Junior Vanguard question, I think it will be a good idea to put a JROTC program on hold, and instead start a Junior Vanguard, or, as Arkady put, a Cadet Vanguard Corps. (I like the sound of that, actually) into play in the school. Once the invasion "event" is pretty much cooled down, we can RP out of the junior vanguard and form the JROTC in it's place. For RPing purposes, I think this is the best course of action, since many of us have started fighting in the War Zone and "joining" vanguard.

I believe I will be posting in the Extra-Curriculars section now about this junior vanguard. All those interested, let me know on THAT thread. As for uniforms...those can come later (if we want some kind of standardized JV uniform for hitting the streets in.)

Thanks for all the talk about this and the interest, y'all!

[Timothy Bastian]

I signed up Toby for the Cadet Vanguard Corps, but I'm kinda wondering now (especially given some of the discussion in other threads) just what it is. So, couple of questions for those of you who are organizing it!

Once a student signs up, are they free to leave whenever they like? Or are they committed to it for some duration?

What does it entail? There's a uniform and chain of command, but outside of that, I'm not really sure what it is.

Is the CVC a student-led campus "club" that happens to volunteer alongside Vanguard with Vanguard's blessings, with perhaps an SJS faculty supervisor? Or is it actually a legal "branch" of the Vanguard, and thus organized/overseen by them in some fashion?

I have to admit that I have no experience with JROTC's in the "real world", so I'm kinda at a loss here, heh.

[Alice]

Im not real sure on the JROTC on a whole but would it be possible to have them assigned to different possitions and departments?

[Storm Scream]

I signed up Toby for the Cadet Vanguard Corps, but I'm kinda wondering now (especially given some of the discussion in other threads) just what it is. So, couple of questions for those of you who are organizing it!

Once a student signs up, are they free to leave whenever they like? Or are they committed to it for some duration?

It's Junior. No commitment to the Vanguard after graduation.

As for duration...we can run it one of 2 ways.

1) come and go as you like (can you see how unstable this would be?)
2) it's a class, just like JROTC is in high school. you do it for a semester or as many semesters as you want.

What does it entail? There's a uniform and chain of command, but outside of that, I'm not really sure what it is.

Outside of that, we might ask to be in uniform occasionally in game, but I think this is more for RP purposes than anything else. This whole idea was sparked by the debate about whether or not kids can join a UN sponsored military organization, after all.

Is the CVC a student-led campus "club" that happens to volunteer alongside Vanguard with Vanguard's blessings, with perhaps an SJS faculty supervisor? Or is it actually a legal "branch" of the Vanguard, and thus organized/overseen by them in some fashion?

Like I said at OH last week...welcome to the most dangerous club on campus. No, but seriously...like I said above, we can either run it like an actual class, or we can just have it going for the duration of the invasion, so it would be an extra-curricular (more like football than the chess club, granted...) As for a facutly supervisor, I have an idea about that that I would like to discuss first. But yes...Vanguard does oversee the CVC, but more to keep people who don't belong in the war zone out of it and handing out somewhat smaller missions. Granted...the missions don't change...but we can pretend we're doing things so that the big guns can handle the LARGER missions, you know?

I have to admit that I have no experience with JROTC's in the "real world", so I'm kinda at a loss here, heh.

Don't worry...I've only got ROTC experience...never did the JROTC scene in high school. Besides, we're kinda just warping JROTC and Vanguard and merging them together...it should be interesting.

[Mimi]

like I said above, we can either run it like an actual class, or we can just have it going for the duration of the invasion, so it would be an extra-curricular (more like football than the chess club, granted...) As for a facutly supervisor, I have an idea about that that I would like to discuss first. But yes...Vanguard does oversee the CVC, but more to keep people who don't belong in the war zone out of it and handing out somewhat smaller missions. Granted...the missions don't change...but we can pretend we're doing things so that the big guns can handle the LARGER missions, you know?

I'd rather it was more of an extra-curricular than a class, and let me go over a couple of things by way of "why"...

Vanguard is only accountable to the UN Security Council, as far as I am aware. They recruit serial killers from the Rogue Isles into their ranks. They will do whatever is necessary to defeat the Rikti, including sacrificing individual liberties and possibly privacy. Anything-- ANYTHING-- is a reasonable cost for victory.

This is an organization that most of the Administration of SJS hates from the core of their being. And I have a hard time believing that they would willingly bring Vanguard onto campus. Vanguard's beliefs and tactics fly in the face of everything SJS has tried to teach.

Though SJS has had close ties with Longbow, SERAPH, and other organizations, there has never been "Junior Longbow" here. There's never been an expressed need or desire for it. SJS has allowed organizations access to its students for seminars and career day and the like, but they have never allowed these organizations to casually flip through student files.

Just so we're clear, eventually, the administration of SJS is going to come into conflict with the CVC on some major issues. So I'd prefer the school itself didn't get into bed with Vanguard by hosting the CVC as a class, but rather, allowed students (and faculty, maybe) to make their own choices and organize the CVC as an extracurricular.

[Storm Scream]

Straight from the horse's mouth, y'all!

Thanks for the clarification, Mimi!