By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com
William Merrick (L) and Ethan Boder (R)
More than 500 young men and women proudly wear the varsity uniforms of the Fighting Illini each year, but in 2021-22 four of them also dress in a totally different type of attire.
Gymnastics' Ethan Boder, wrestling's Joey Braunagel, and track and field's William Merrick and Brian Keyes all bear significant responsibilities beyond their athletic and academic pursuits at the University of Illinois. This special quartet of Illini athletes also wears United States military uniforms as members of UI's Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).
While all of them are following in the footsteps of family members who've served, each has used his own personal circumstances in becoming ROTC participants at the U of I.
For Boder, a graduate of Knoxville, Tennessee's Catholic High School, he originally narrowed his choices for collegiate gymnastics competition to the Naval Academy and Illinois.
"A big part of my decision was that I thought if I chose Illinois I wasn't going to have the opportunity to pursue a Naval career," said the current sophomore Midshipman. "I really didn't like that idea. Then my coach (Justin Spring) sent me a link to the Naval ROTC website, letting me know that I could still do the same thing if I signed up with ROTC. Since I bonded with the team much more when I visited Illinois, I chose the Illini."
Braunagel's first choice was always Illinois, primarily because brothers Zac and Danny were already members of the Illini wrestling team. However, because the Althoff Catholic High School product would only be receiving a partial scholarship and didn't want to burden his parents with having to pay for the balance of his education, Braunagel investigated additional options.
Joey Braunagel
"About two or three days after I committed (to Illinois), I got a text from an Army recruiter suggesting that I talk to him if I wanted free college," he said. "So I thought to myself, I get to wrestle and get free college … let's look into this! After talking to the recruiter over a couple of weeks and learning about all of the benefits I could get, I swore in (as an Illinois Army National Guard Simultaneous Membership Program cadet)."
Merrick, a native of Castle Rock, Colo., followed his older sister Katrina's lead. She is a sophomore member of the Army ROTC at the University of Arizona. Will is one of about ten current freshman Midshipmen with the UI's Naval ROTC program. For him, choosing a college to attend came down to determining what the Illini track coaches' rapport was with ROTC.
"I knew that the University of Illinois had great academics (Merrick plans to major in chemical engineering), but it was one of only a few schools that had a solid relationship with ROTC," he said. "And, then, the fact that my dad (Bill) had also attended Illinois made my decision even easier."
As for Cadet Keyes, a redshirt sophomore from McHenry and second-year captain of the Army push-up crew at Illini football games, he found out about the Army ROTC's scholarship opportunity when he took his official visit to Champaign-Urbana.
"Coach (Mike) Turk told me about the scholarship information that ROTC offered," he said. "At the time, my throwing numbers were a little bit lower than I would have hoped for (to receive) a decent athletic scholarship. I come from a lower income family, so we didn't have the money to pay for school and I didn't want to take out loans. I was told (by ROTC) that there was no immediate commitment and that I could try the program out. So I gave it a shot and here we are today almost four years later."
ROTC requires that its members take at least one military class per semester and attend Physical Readiness Training (PRT) multiple times a week. How they all cope with this extra responsibility is quite extraordinary. For example, consider Boder's typical midweek schedule.
"So, on Wednesdays I'll wake up at 4:50 a.m. so that I can leave for ROTC drills at 5:40," said Boder, an ROTC Midshipmen Third Class.
"Drills are normally two-and-a-half hours, but I need to leave a bit early to go train (with gymnastics). Then I'll go to breakfast at the Varsity Room (the athletes' training table that's located in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium). My classes go 10-11, 11-12, and 12-1. Afterwards, I'll get lunch, then leave for training until about 5. Then I'll go home and bust out all of my homework, then get ready for bed."
"So, I'm a student, an athlete and a soldier," echoes Braunagel. "Yeah, it's a time commitment, for sure."
Brian Keyes
Keyes, a thrower for the Illini track and field squad, emphasizes that there are benefits to being both a student-athlete and a soldier.
"I feel that being both a high-level athlete and a member of ROTC stresses the characteristics of commitment and striving to be better," he said. "Athletes are constantly in the mindset of wanting to grow. I think that helps me because a lot of the stuff that you learn as a cadet isn't natural, so having that drive and wanting to constantly better yourself is really important to being a good soldier."
Merrick, a middle-distance runner at Illinois, concurs with Keyes, saying, "I interact with so many other people—from the track team to classes to ROTC—so it's helped teach me how to deal with people and respect our team leaders. I realize that I can do a lot more to benefit the entire group and that's definitely transferred over to track. I'm a freshman, so I've just got to learn as much as I can."
Braunagel, a 197-pounder who's redshirting in '21-22, says that his brothers are proud that he's in the military.
"They think that the deal I have is amazing," he said. "I get to serve my country, get military benefits, and have all of my tuition paid for."
All four ROTC student-athletes greatly admire their fellow service men and women and the individuals who have served before them.
"Absolutely," Boder said. "There's definitely a higher level of respect now that I know more about what it takes to wear the uniform. I understand the kinds of things they're willing to support with everything that they have."
"I have a deep respect for anyone who's ever served in the military," Braunagel said. "That includes police officers, fire fighters and first responders. If you're trying to help your community, I have ultimate respect for you."
Said Merrick, "I've always had a strong opinion and a high respect for individuals in military service. Honestly, to know that I'm part of that, I know that we're all fighting the same battle."
Keyes' respect for veterans grows each time he strides through the colonnade at Memorial Stadium.
"I've walked the columns several times and I've read all of the names on them," he said. "And each time I walk past the script that's etched on the east side of Memorial Stadium (adjacent to the Smith Football Center), I always take time to read those words and salute it. Basically, it says that Illinois students chose to sacrifice their youth for the sake of the country. Not enough people stop and take in what the stadium really means to veterans. These men and women were proud to serve their country. I'm nowhere close to being the heroes that they were."
HISTORY OF ROTC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
UI's Army ROTC website informs that the program's roots date back to the early 1800s when civilian colleges began to offer military instruction to students.
"During the early stages of the Civil War, it became apparent that the United States Military Academy was not capable of producing the quantity of loyal officers required to lead the massive forces fighting in this War. To fill the need for a ready pool of military leaders, Congress included a special provision of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. The Act offered each state tracts of federally controlled land, or money in lieu of land. States were to sell the land, invest the income, and create and maintain colleges with the proceeds. The colleges were to offer training in agriculture, mechanical arts, and military tactics.
"On the first day of classes, Spring Semester 1868, students at the Illinois Industrial University (now the University of Illinois), were formed into ranks before an instructor. These 75 young men, each of whom had to be at least 15 years of age, reported for roll call to the Military Department. The first campus dress code required all pupils to wear a gray uniform with blue cap. From this beginning, training in "Military Tactics" was to be an integral part of education at the U of I.
"In 1916, with World War I raging in Europe, congress passed the National Defense Act, which created the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). This Act provided support for college military training and training camps. In 1919, ROTC initiated full operations on UI's campus. All able-bodied males were required to take at least basic military training in ROTC.
"Originally, ROTC enrollment and training was branch specific. For example, the 1923 enrollment was 830 in Cavalry, 738 in Infantry, 236 in Air Service, 208 in Engineers, and 194 in Signal Corps. Cadets trained on campus with cannons, tanks, horses, pontoon bridges, and airplanes. Branch training in ROTC was discontinued in the mid-1960s. ROTC enrollment reached a peak of 4,772 Cadets in 1942.
"The University of Illinois established Naval ROTC in 1945 and Air Force ROTC in 1949. This made it one of the few Universities in the Nation with tri-service ROTC, which still holds true today."
