I cannot tell you how shocked and appalled I was to pick up the latest edition of The Creightonian, flip through its pages and find a certain article berating the virtues of this campus’s ROTC.

At first, I felt transported to University of California, Berkeley, which recently shut down Marine recruitment within its city limits, despite receiving federal grants and funding just as we do at Creighton. Then reality hit me. This anti-military sentiment has permeated the walls of our beloved Creighton too.

First, the writer, Mr. Gibilisco, tries to break all ties between Christianity and war – a seemingly impossible feat. He claims that, as Christians, we are rarely (or perhaps never) called upon to fight in order to protect the Judeo-Christian values that our country was founded upon. In fact, I would not be surprised if Mike Gibilisco was blissfully unaware that military officers born and bred by programs like ROTC protect his right to craft such a scathing article.

Us simple-minded folk who support programs like ROTC would argue that there are few endeavors more Christian than the sacrifice of service of our military personal in order to protect our every freedom. Champion that cause, Mr. Gibilisco – make that selflessness the subject of your article.

Teach the world something they do not know about the honorable men and women of the military who take your criticism, swallow it and give their blood and sweat in the fight to ensure that you may make the same ridiculous claims over and over again. Teach the world what it is like to protect a thankless people.

I will never understand how a seemingly logical human being can suggest that, in their military training, ROTC students somehow miss out on the instruction of justice and peace, or that ROTC students are likely to change their minds about military service if “influenced by Catholic social teaching.” Those poor ROTC students, according to Mr. Gibilisco, must be so lost and confused.

Mr. Gibilisco’s interpretation of Catholic teaching is suspect – if he had done his research, he would know that St. Ignatius subscribed to “just war” theory, a tenet embraced and illuminated by St. Augustine that encourages the use of force to protect the defenseless and the helpless. Creighton’s ROTC students fully exemplify Jesuit ideals, perhaps more than any other group on campus – they truly are “men and women in service of others,” giving of themselves so that we all may lead free and prosperous lives.

To all Creightonians, there is a reason that “Nuclear, Biochemical and Chemical Warfare” is only taught in the ROTC department. They are likely the only ones who will have to face such atrocities (the way the Kurds did in Kuwait) in order to protect our freedom.

We, as College Republicans, stand tall and salute the honorable men and women in the military and in the Creighton ROTC program. These men and women endure unimaginable obstacles and choose to put their country first, despite the ingratitude and negative attacks of those on the extreme fringe like Mr. Gibilisco.

On behalf of ROTC students and military everywhere, we demand an apology.

On behalf of the Creighton College

Republicans

Alissa Hart, Arts & Sciences freshman