It was a spring break surfing trip in California that Evan Hessel felt best described Paul Ruddell.
“We’d all be tired after an hour or two of surfing,” said Hessel, Ruddell’s roommate, friend and fellow Reserve Army Training Corps cadet. “Paul just keeps on going. He never gets tired.
“Paul’s the kind of guy who, when he’s really into something and really enjoys it, he’ll just totally go all out on it.”
Maybe that’s why Ruddell, a senior political science major, does five physical training sessions each week, two of which he teaches himself. He also attends ROTC seniors’ staff meetings, helps teach military science labs, goes to counseling sessions for third-year military sciences students and takes a full load of regular course work.
It seems Ruddell’s hard work has paid off, as he’s on-track to graduate in June as one of the top ROTC cadets in the nation. His goal: an infantry officer position in the U.S. Army.
He said his enthusiasm to be a soldier goes back to his days as a kid playing with little green army action figures.
“I’ve always wanted to do it since I was little,” he said. “I wanted to go into the service, which was contrary to my parents, what they wanted.”
The idea of service touched a nerve with Ruddell.
“I think it’s this image of the soldier that really caught me right off the bat,” he said. “This guy is going out there, and he’s putting his ass on the line for someone he doesn’t even know. He’s going out there and he’s doing what he believes is right … for someone that he might have never met. I’ve always thought that that’s just awesome.”
The “set a goal, then reach it” mentality is what kept Ruddell interested in the Army throughout his childhood, he said. His desire to be a soldier was cemented when he was a sophomore in high school, in part because of his involvement in athletics.
“I’m not projecting this on anybody else, but personally I felt like, ‘If I’m an athlete and I’m capable of serving … there’s no real good reason why I shouldn’t,’” he said.
Service is a common theme in Ruddell’s career aspirations. He’s also considered being a firefighter or police officer.
“I actually enlisted, in high school, in the reserves,” he said. “Then ROTC grabbed me.”
The ROTC program gave Ruddell a chance to attend college and leave as an officer. He discharged from the reserves and was contracted into ROTC.
“It’s a contract that says, ‘as long as you’re in ROTC, you’re getting paid,’” he said. “If you break that contract, then they can take that money back that they paid you.”
Ruddell said he gets a $400 per month stipend, tuition assistance and help with books and housing.
“But everybody I’ve talked to in ROTC is not about the money. When I came in, I had enough money to take care of college; that wouldn’t have been a problem, but I’d always wanted to do it. The fact that they’re paying me to go to school is just a nice perk.”
There’s a progressively higher workload for cadets as they go through the four years of ROTC.
“MS one- and two-years basically just have fun,” Ruddell said. He said first and second year cadets learn and train for their third year, but aren’t worked too hard.
“The juniors need somebody to command and practice their leadership skills on,” he said. “The ones and twos serve that purpose.”
A cadet is evaluated during his or her junior year, when the workload increases, Ruddell said.
Each year, several activities pull ROTC students away from the daily grind of school. One example is Field Training Exercises, or FTX, which cadets attend once each term at a military training camp or wooded area somewhere in the Northwest. FTXs include obstacle courses, target practice, war games and battle drill practice.
Ruddell defined battle drills as actions that occur without thinking.
For instance, “you hit a bunker and you get fired on — it’s a battle drill that’s designed to react to that situation,” Ruddell said. “So, automatically everybody knows, OK, alpha team is going to be suppressing fire, bravo team is going to flank around to the left, and bravo team is going to clear that bunker.”
For war games, cadets will battle in a wooded setting using paintball guns or a type of high-tech laser tag.
“You put it on your weapon and you fire blanks, and you have sensors that tell you whether or not you’ve been hit,” Ruddell said of the laser tag.
One of the most important off-campus activities that ROTC students participate in is the Leader Development and Assessment Course, an advanced leadership course that serves in part as the ROTC version of the LSAT. A cadet’s performance in the month-long course, which takes place during the summer between his or her junior and senior year, is evaluated.
Activities at the LDAC include situational training, patrolling, chemical warfare, repelling, confidence building and physical training. Cadets are required to qualify in activities such as land navigation and hand grenade assault.
Ruddell achieved the second highest physical training score in the nation and earned a distinction called “RECONDO” for his performance in the other training events.
“It’s stressful,” he said. “Especially to get RECONDO. Most people, they miss one event.”
Ruddell has had several exclusive opportunities over his collegiate
career. He was granted a slot to earn his airborne certification at Fort Benning, Ga. The certification is a three-week course that focuses on paratrooper training.
“Any time they pay you to jump out of airplanes … it’s awesome,” Ruddell said of his experience.
He also trained with a 101st Airborne division artillery unit at Fort Campbell, Ky.
“You go to a unit and you shadow a lieutenant … someone’s job that you’ll be doing in a matter of a year,” Ruddell said. “Once there you’re treated like a second lieutenant. Everybody salutes you, you’re called ‘sir’ and everything else, and you work.”
After all the training is done, the cadet’s performance in training, class and campus activities is assessed and he or she is placed on a national “Order of Merit List.” Those at the top of the list have the best shot at receiving the assignments they want. The top 20 percent on the Order of Merit List get the Distinguished Military Graduate award if their professor of military science recommends them.
The workload has been stressful at times over the past four years, Ruddell said.
“Junior year, you get pretty burnt out, but you have a goal. So even though you’re getting burnt out, you’re working toward something so you look at it like that,” he said. “Senior year, you’ve already gotten your branch, you’re not being
evaluated anymore, … so it’s
difficult to maintain that motivation and that drive to give back to the cadet core.”
Overall, Ruddell said he feels he had done a good job staying
motivated. He hopes to better prepare himself for the Army by teaching younger military science students and staying in top physical condition. One of his major responsibilities is to help plan and conduct military science lab sessions.
“All the leadership labs are designed to improve the cadets in one way or another,” he said. “Whether it’s getting them ready for future training, or getting them ready for camp or anything else.”
Ruddell has drawn praise from
instructors for his abilities as well.
“His interpersonal skills area really quite extraordinary,” said Capt. James Miller, a military science instructor. “He has a very genuine, good sense of humor. Whenever someone expresses something to him, he always seems to have the right way to respond to it.”
Cadets are required to wear uniforms around campus every Thursday, which causes ROTC students to
stand out in classes. Ruddell said people don’t always understand the uniforms.
“I think (people) just see the uniform as opposed to the person,” Ruddell said. “When we’re in uniform, granted we’re required to act in certain w
ays, lets say, for politics. I can’t talk about whether I like the president or whether I don’t like the president. … I can’t speak for
the military.
“It’s just like a uniform for any other type of job. When I wear that, I represent (the Army).”
Ruddell said he and other ROTC cadets were marching to camp once and a passerby leaned out of her
car and said “I hope you all die
over there.”
“I just kind of feel sorry for people that feel like that or act like that,” Ruddell said. “As a soldier, you have no control over policy … We sign up to serve the people; we don’t sign up to serve the president.”
After graduation, cadets are required to spend at least four years in active duty and an additional four years in the Army Reserve. Ruddell will enter the Army on June 17 as a second lieutenant, then work as a
recruiter over the summer.
In November, Ruddell will attend the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Ga. After that, he expects to receive command of a group of enlisted soldiers, some of whom may have been in the Army for far longer than he has.
“It’s going to be interesting, getting in there with everybody that’s already had combat experience,” he said. “And there’s not really going to be an easy way of doing it.”
Ruddell doesn’t know where he’ll be stationed yet, but he hopes to be in Hawaii, Alaska or Germany in a light or mechanized infantry or airborne division.
“One of our cadre members just came down from Alaska and had a lot of good stories,” Ruddell said. “People jumping out of planes and getting neck-deep in snow when they hit the ground.”
Ruddell said he isn’t scared of the chance of being deployed.
“I see it as … inevitable.” he said. “It’s what I signed up for. If I don’t go, that would mean that someone else would have to go. … I think it’s selfish of me to say, ‘No, I’m not going to go, I’m going to make someone else risk their life for me.’”
