lion
Page 3 • Tuesday, September 15, 1998
Aggielife
BY STEPHEN WELLS
The BAttalion
remember
ing to be
pretend-
the war
hero when I was a
kid,” Ben Fraustro,
an Army reservist
from Dallas, Texas, said. ‘‘Now I
get paid to do what I used to day
dream about doing.”
The United States Armed
Forces Reserves trace their ori
gins back to 1908 with the estab
lishment of the Medical Reserve
Corps of the U.S. Army. Since
then, it has undergone a steady
evolution to become the force it
is today.
In 1916, Congress passed the
National Defense Act, which en
sured the existence of a reserve
pool of officers for the Armed
Forces by creating several reserve
officer and officer training corps.
After World War I, several of
these new groups were combined
under the banner of the Armed
Forces Reserves.
Today’s reservists are special
ized for combat support and
combat service support. In the
Army, reservists account for 40
percent of these personnel.
One of the more interesting re
serve units, particularly for the
cloak-and-dagger crowd, is locat
ed right here in Bryan.
The 3420th Military Intelli
gence Department is a reserve
unit charged with developing and
testing security systems for one of
the nation’s most secure military
computer systems, DODIIS.
Each individual working for
the 3420th has top-secret clear
ance and works with organiza
tions outside the military such as
the CIA and software companies
around the globe.
According to U.S. Army Reser-
Army reservists split time helping
military and leading civilian lives
rve magazine the unit is stationed
in Bryan because Texas A&M pro
duces more military intelligence
officers than all of the other uni
versities in the nation combined.
Everybody has seen the ad
vertisements coaxing viewers to
serve their country in the Armed
Forces Reserves, but only a small
percentage take the United
States’ offer.
Those who do, find the re
wards far outweigh the work.
“If you’re doing something you
enjoy, and you’re getting paid to
do it, how is that working?”
Fraustro said.
Graphic By Robert Hynecek/The Battalion
Fraustro said the Army Reserve
provides just the right amount of
military experience.
“I wouldn’t want to live every
day like it was boot camp,” Fraus
tro said. “Why play Army when I
can do things that actually help
soldiers in the field?”
Many members of the Corps of
Cadets are reservists, and they
find the service helps them learn
many additional military-related
skills.
It also may cement a position in
the Armed Forces after graduation.
Lt. Col. Jake Betty, a tactical
training officer for the Texas A&M
Corps of Cadets, said many Corps
members enter the Reserves with
an eye on an officer ranking upon
entering military service.
“I think that those individuals
who are in the Reserves are inter
ested in being commissioned as
an officer,” Betty said. “In addi
tion to the training they get, they
usually also have a desire to be an
officer, either in the regular ser
vices or in the reserves.”
Betty is an Army Reservist. He
said his 25 years of military ser
vice have included 21 years in
the Reserves.
“I stayed in the reserves be
cause there is a feeling of serving
the country,” Betty said. “The
opportunities I’ve had [as a] part
of the reserves, as far as the
places I’ve gone to and the abili
ty to see things, and do things I
wouldn’t have otherwise been
able to do, were also a big part.
“I’ve also made many friend
ships serving in the military. A
combination of all those things
keeps me in the reserves.”
The time obligations re
quired by the military reserves
are well within the reach of a
college student.
“If you were just going into
the reserves, realistically it works
out to one weekend a month,”
Betty said. “It may rise a little de
pending on your position and
rank. Normally, there’s a two
week commitment sometime dur
ing the year, so students could
take time over summer or winter
breaks and serve their two weeks
then. Honestly, if you look at oth
er jobs you could do over the
weekend, the pay is pretty good.”
see Reservists on Page 4.
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