Sometimes a new experience can inspire a life-changing decision.

After visiting her brother at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Caitlin Guthrie, an international relations senior, decided to pursue the Air Force after high school. She wanted her college experience to challenge her and said it was the disciplined lifestyle and focus on high achievement that helped her make her decision, later applying for and receiving an ROTC scholarship.

“I always knew I was going to do it,” Guthrie said. “It was a way to put your hard work to a good cause.”

She chose the ROTC program at MSU over a military academy for the extended academic and extracurricular opportunities.

“It has a normal college life to it,” Guthrie said. “You still have to live up to the standards, but you have opportunities you wouldn’t have at an academy.”

After a year in the program, she knew she was in the right place.

Upon graduation in May, Guthrie will move to Texas between May and August to study for seven months in different methods of research and information filtering as an intelligence officer.

She will receive her station four months into the program.

“I’ll see if I like it, if it fits me. We’ll also see if I fit the Air Force,” she said.

While her commitment is four years, she hopes to extend her time if able.

Major Wayne Hutchison, commandant of cadets, MSU alumnus and space and missile officer of 10 years, said students choose their desired jobs in the force as juniors, each with its own requirements and time commitments.

“People decide that they want to work and live in the organizational culture that is the Air Force,” he said.

Specializing in Latin American and Caribbean affairs, Guthrie is able to pursue her interests through the James Madison College as well as the ROTC program.

As vice commander of the cadet wing, Guthrie works with the cadet commander on everyday tasks and special projects like organizing the cadets who will unfurl the giant flag on the football field during the MSU vs. University of Michigan game Nov. 3.

Such activities are done on a volunteer basis and decided upon and planned by the students.

“We talk to them about making an impact and they decide what that is,” Hutchison said.

For her, the best part of the program has been the friendships, as well as the challenges of leadership. As a flight commander during her junior year, and she said she enjoyed working with the younger cadets, seeing them succeed.

Guthrie also has had the constant support of her family, despite the future’s possibilities, like deployment.

“For me it might be easy, but for family members I need to remember that it might be difficult for them,” she said.

The decision to commit to the Air Force, Hutchison said, is a highly significant one, and the faculty are sure to cover all possible scenarios.

“Our biggest concern is that our students are as well-informed and well-trained as they can be,” Hutchison said. “We want to be absolutely certain that they know what they are getting into.”

2nd Lt. Brett Allen

When Brett Allen, a second lieutenant in the United States Army, saw the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks during his senior year of high school, he felt the urge to do his part.

“I thought about enlisting, but I wanted to get college in too; then my father actually found the two-year ROTC program,” he said. “I just wanted to serve my country.”

Allen enrolled in the Army ROTC program for his junior year at MSU.

A supply chain management major, he completed a shorter basic training program before the academic year began to catch him up with the other students.

Now stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky as an executive officer for basic training, he said the program left few surprises about life in the army after graduation.

“It’s been very good. ROTC definitely prepared me well for coming into the Army,” Allen said. “The ROTC definitely gives you all the tools you need to accomplish anything that is set out before you.”

He said the program was flexible, with students required to take one class and one lab per week, making their remaining classes the priority. He said unique experiences like jumping out of airplanes — which he did before junior year — were the best parts of the program.

While he has not been deployed, he said the faculty of the ROTC program took a very straight-forward approach when it came to preparing the students for what lies ahead. Students first receive their branch, such as infantry or transportation, and then which fort they will be going to.

“The leadership training you get from the ROTC and Army is invaluable, even applying the leadership skills to outside jobs, just in managing people in general, it’s helped quite a bit,” he said.

Allen will be leaving Kentucky at the end of November for Fort Drum in New York, as part of his four-year contract with the Army.

“I knew that I wanted to do it when I signed in, and I don’t have any regrets,” he said.

Cadet Andrew Zanotti

Walking the streets of East Lansing and the MSU campus each Thursday dressed in his navy blue uniform, Andrew Zanotti has grown accustomed to the curious looks from onlookers.

“It’s still kind of humbling when people thank me. I feel there are so many people who have done so much more than me,” he said.

Zanotti has always had a close relationship with the armed forces. Both of the civil engineering senior’s grandfathers served in World War II and he has two older brothers in the Air Force.

“It’s kind of a family thing; getting the opportunity to be a part of the armed forces was something I wanted to do. It wasn’t like expected of me or anything,” he said.

Zanotti’s position requires a four-year commitment to the Air Force.

“I’m excited, like any fourth-year college student, excited to see what’s out there,” he said. “I hear a lot of good things so I am excited for that next phase of life.”

As a senior, Zanotti balances a full class load with his responsibilities as operations group commander for the MSU Detachment 380, which involve supervising his fellow cadets to make sure everything runs according to schedule.

His position involved running the weekly lead labs which discuss everything from uniforms to dealing with hierarchy in the force, and training new cadets. The workload can vary, but the commitment is highly involved, providing constant interaction.

Upon graduation in May 2009, Zanotti hopes to enlist in the Air Force as a civil engineer working on base infrastructure.

He will spend the remainder of his time as a cadet preparing for active duty with faculty like Hutchison, who work to make the adjustment easier.

As for the future, he may not end up on the front lines, but he looks forward to what lies ahead.

“There’s always that nervousness of the unknown. That would apply to anything I would be doing after college,” Zanotti said. “It’s just (about) doing something better than you could do as an individual; being a part of a bigger cause than yourself.”