Mandatory? Good luck. I actually did AFJROTC all four years voluntarily at TX-861, and it was a constant struggle to recruit and retain folks. But the folks that stayed were cadre in every sense of the word. If we had instead had to deal with people who didn’t want to be there, it would have been a far less effective educational environment (and, predictably, it was the first-years who discovered the program wasn’t for them that were the greatest source of grief each year until they rotated out).

I learned a shit ton about leadership, teamwork, camaraderie, chains of command, organizing, etc. Ironically, I think it made me a far better eventual communist organizer. I got to see the value and utility of hierarchy and discipline, in contrast to the never ending shitshow that was other less regimented clubs. We punched way above our weight in terms of ability to turn out volunteers for community efforts, for one example.