The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps is an organization for high school students that is dedicated to “motivating young people to be better citizens”, not to recruit for the military services. The Plano West Wolf Battalion was established on July 1, 2000, and is in the top 10 percent of the nation out of 1731 units. This earns them the title of Honor Unit with Distinction. JROTC students/cadets are taught military history, leadership, citizenship, geography, fitness, first aid, finances and communication, as well as integrity, personal worth and respect. Major (Ret.) John Napoli Jr. teaches JROTC at Plano West, and First Sergeant Steve Ford teaches the course at Shepton and Jasper.

“JROTC teaches students things that they wouldn’t learn in regular classes, such as flag etiquette, map reading and first aid in order to make them better citizens and well-rounded students,” Ford said.

The Plano West Wolf Battalion competed in the Birdville Drill Meet on Feb. 18. All the teams competing performed well, and the sporter rifle team received second place. Plano West JROTC has the following competitive teams, which include armed and unarmed drill teams, color guard, physical fitness, rifle teams, and academic teams. Plano West JROTC is in season from September to April, with practices all year long.

 “A drill meet is a competition that takes place on a Saturday with anywhere from 18 to 60 JROTC units from all around Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma coming together to compete,” Napoli said.

Many students are first exposed to JROTC in middle school, when high school students in JROTC visit the middle schools, that feed into West, with a presentation explaining what JROTC is, which is usually accompanied with a presentation of the national flag, and a sequence with the demilitarized armed drill team.

“We go to the middle schools to show the students what JROTC is, and what it holds for its students,” junior Connor Garrison said. “We explain to them that the class, which is a leadership based course, is focused on developing leadership skills, decision making, and public speaking, mixed with first aid and brief units of American history. We always strive to stress to the students that JROTC will not put anyone into the military, nor try to recruit anyone in any way.”

The JROTC system at Plano West is based on a chain of command. At the very top of the Army chain of Command is the President of the United States, followed by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, and so on down to Major Napoli. At Plano West, a similar chain of command is followed, with students in selectively chosen leadership positions.  In charge of the Plano West Wolf Battalion is Amal Sahay, who is the Battalion Commander. Sahay is responsible for the 143 cadets at Plano West, Shepton and Jasper.

“I am responsible for everything the battalion does or fails to do, including things at school and in the community, like color guard at football games, and open house,” Sahay said.

Different students have different reasons for wanting to be a part of JROTC. For some, the appeals include scholarship opportunities, college resumes, PE waivers and the desire to learn real life skills.

“I did not want to take PE, so I joined JROTC in ninth grade, fully intending to drop out later,” Sahay said. “However, after being in the program for a year, I realized how much I enjoyed it, and wound up dropping orchestra instead.”