While the campus is still half asleep at 6:30 a.m., the Pritchard Arena is awake and stirring with energized members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, a college elective with morning physical training sessions a part of its curriculum. Roughly 30 percent of those who join change their minds only a few weeks in to the semester.
Accompanying the eight training members are Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Wiwczar, a senior military instructor, and Capt. John Green, assistant professor of Military Science. All are wearing the same physical fitness uniforms —gray t-shirts with “ARMY” printed across the front and a reflective ‘A’ for Army on the back and black shorts. These uniforms are more casual compared to the formal “Dress Greens” worn by Wiwczar and Green at the Veteran’s Memorial Ceremony held on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
In the center of the gymnasium are four members, including Cadet Emily Hutton, bouncing a basketball to one another. The sound of the ball hitting the gym’s wood floor echoed through the arena.
“One to two times a month, they get to play a sport of their choice,” Wiwczar said.
The eight present members are only a small representation of the 22 students currently enrolled in the ROTC. Occasionally, sports will conflict with the ROTC’s schedule and, according to Green, “they will be worked with either before hand or after.”
Green, originally from Tennessee, enlisted in the ROTC while in high school because he wanted to travel. He elected to go further and eventually became an officer. He has been married for seven years and has two sons, one aged six and the other three. His family lives in Michigan and because of his travels, he sees them only for the holidays.
Since 1987, Green has been on active duty in the Army, where he serves full-time. For the past year, he has been in New York, where he is actively involved in the ROTC on campus.
“I have been deployed to Iraq one time,” Green said. “I have also served in Korea, Germany and other places, too.”
Unlike Green, Wiwczar is a member of the New York National Guard. He has served for 18 years, a length of time he considers “not long enough.”
“I like the military and I guess it would be a combination of liking the military and a patriotic portion of it,” he said after an extended pause.
In the later part of the 1970s, Wiwczar had been on active duty in the Air Force. He had been out for 14 years before he went back into serving the Army.
Born and raised in Wading River, N.Y., Wiwczar now lives with his family in a house they built ten years ago in Riverhead. He has been married for 27 years and has a son, 22, and two daughters, aged 18 and 16. He admits that his uncle, who had served for 27 years, had been his role model while growing up. For him, serving runs in his family—his son is currently in the same Army National Guard unit as he is, and served with him in Afghanistan two years ago.
“Having us both over there drove my wife a little crazy,” Wiwczar said with a laugh.
Both men are involved with Stony Brook’s ROTC for the same reason—to inspire young individuals to be leaders and reach the goals they set.
“When you tell them what their goal is, they naturally strive and fight to reach it,” Green said. “It becomes a competition to outrun and outdo more than anyone else.”
