Student Reservists Called Up for Relief Efforts

Photo credit: Nikki G. Bannister/Southern Digest A reservist, on the corner of Canal and Decatur streets in New Orleans, was called to duty in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

By Matthew Solomon
Black College Wire

Several Southern University students who are military reservists have been called to participate in relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

One of them, Ledetra Krogal, a member of the Louisiana National Guard, said she was uneasy about postponing school and that she would also miss her family.

"I kind of have mixed feelings for the most part because I am going to be deployed for six months," Krogal said. "So that means I am going to have to leave my 3-month-old daughter.

"Then I am going to miss a whole semester," she said. "Or maybe two semesters of school. But at the same time, I am kind of excited about it because I'm going to be helping people who need, really need my help."

Krogal said her entire unit of 400 to 500 guardsmen had been mobilized to assist in relief efforts.

"I know for the most part, my whole battalion is gone," she said. "And there are three more other battalions that are there."

According to Norman St. Amant, the university's vice chancellor for enrollment management, some guardsmen and reservists were being deployed overnight and their deployment papers had yet to be seen by the office of enrollment. That means more students might already be mobilized, he said.

Jarrett Baker, a junior biology major from Houston who is enlisted in the Army Reserve, said his unit was put on alert but had not been mobilized. However, Baker said he would have no qualms about serving.

"I'm fine with it," Baker said. "I was kind of anxious to help; it's just the fact that I would be missing school."

Baker is enrolled in Southern's ROTC program. Because Baker and other ROTC cadets are also reservists or guardsmen, they are not eligible for deployment, according to the Simultaneous Membership Program, in which soldiers are members of Army ROTC and either the Army Reserve or National Guard.

"Only ROTC provides a contract to sophomores and above under the SMP program," said Cyrouse Houshyani, ROTC scholarship and enrollment officer. "The program makes it possible for students to be placed on a non-deployable status."

Houshyani said certain requirements would have to be met in order to be a part of the program.

But for the most part, he said, anything worth being a part of requires commitment.

"The benefits of being a soldier are great," he said. "Everything comes with a commitment, and when something like this happens, you have to go. It's part of the commitment we make."

Matthew Solomon, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest.

Posted Sept. 26, 2005