Northwest High School - Vanguard Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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laj Members of the ROTC flag detail John Fiorentin, .lim Peavler, and Larry Elmore demonstrate proper care of the flag when raising it each morning and folding it at the end of school. lbl As the highest-ranking ca- dets in the Northwest Batal- lion, the ROTC staff officers share the responsibility of run- ning ROTC lfrontl C! lLt. Gar- land Zeiher, Cf2Lt Gene La- baw. lbackl CflLt Greg Labaw, CfMaj Jeff Whitten, C!Cpt Ron Willis, H!Mai Chris Hickman, Cf2Lt Robert Hallagan, C!Sgm Thomas Anthony. fcl Preceding each athletic event is the national anthem, here played by Phil Wright, senior, while the ROTC color guard presents the national and school colors to the crowd. lUllNlQlllglllE SA ARlNlTQS Wi lhllll I22 H aving a birthday on either of the days March 6 or 7 would seem unimportant to most people, yet to able- bodied American males turning 19 years of age during 1972, those days have a special significance, for they were drawn first and second in the 1973 draft lottery. All my life I was never number one in anything so why now? pleaded the Iuckless future draftee. Ang- uished cries such as this were not numerous around the halls of Northwest, but some senior T8 year-olds turn- ing T9 during '72 were a little anxious as they were as- signed lottery numbers in February. A group of 105 Northwest youth did not have to wait on the draft to catch up or receive enlistment orders be- fore they understood what the army meant. They com- prised the cadets of ROTC. The cadets served in various capacities, a high morale was maintained with the aid of girl ROTC sponsors. Cadets received military instruction in four levels of increasing complexity. The primary purposes of ROTC were not solely militarily-oriented. Of prime concern was the preparation of the cadet to be a better citizen. Like other new courses, ROTC has undergone changes since its introduction to the Northwest curricu- lum four years ago in the fall of I968. The classroom grading system was somewhat different. Sergeant Rich- ard Heady, ROTC instructor, explained that a change in teaching routine allowed for a greater amount of stu- dent-cadet teaching.

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Activities in ROTC increased. Besides fielding a rifle team, and award-winning drill team, ROTC also added a girls' drill team. ln addition, the NHS ROTC sponsored a Military Ball for cadets, sponsors, and their dates. Perhaps the greatest honor to verify the worth of ROTC came in February as NHS's own cadet Colonel James Whitaker, senior, was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The highest ranking cadet in the Indianapolis Public School System, Jim served this year as brigade commander. Jim was in charge of 1,600 cadets and sponsors throughout the IPS district. With Jim as an example to follow, ROTC continued to aid in the development of fine citizens. The 105 hard- working youths enrolled in ROTC bore evidence of this. The fact that a lottery took place in February pretty much summed up the military news of the 1971-72 school year. That is to say that the war in Southeast Asia continued. Yet fewer call-outs reduced U.S. partici- pation in Vietnam ground action. The slow but gradual withdrawal of troops combined with the lessened draft calls to create a serious manpower shortage in the Na- tional Guard and Reserve units. Of course the move by national draft officials to give 19 year-olds the lowest priority for enlisting in those units did not help either. On November 2, 1972, the Selective Service System established several new classifications and abandoned other unusable ones to smoothe the administrative han- dling of the lottery draft. A new classification, 1-H, an administrative holding category, was created for those not old enough to be drafted and those who passed the year of their prime draft exposure. All new registrants were classified 1-H and kept there until after the lottery drawing for their age group except for registrants who entered the service of ioined Reserve units. A 1-H cutoff number was set by the National Director as a process- ing ceiling. Those registrants with lottery numbers below the 1-H cutoff were to have their files activated and were considered for reclassification into 1-A, or into other appropriate classifications. These changes were effected with the eventual changeover to an all-volunteer force in mind. Univer sity, iunior college, trade and technical school defer- ments were phased out of the system. This move was important to eliminate what was considered an inequity of the former system. The clamor for the all-volunteer army was at an all- time high but it was lust this intenese want of such a sys- tem that may have prevented its attainment. Yet, for nearly every point in favor of all-volunteers, an equal and opposite view was taken. lt was believed, however, that rugged, adventurous types would not be attracted to military service because of salary raises but rather be more concerned with professional pride, prestige, and elite status.