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UW remembers shooting victims
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by Ken Harris
Friday, February 22, 2008
The bells of the Carillon Tower at the University of
Wisconsin solemnly tolled for an entire minute Thursday, stopping all
pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area as the ROTC honored the victims of
last week’s shootings at Northern Illinois University. The scene on Observatory Drive at noon was silent, save for
the tower bells. Through the full minute, a handful of ROTC officers stood
unmoving, displaying the national, state and army flags, saluting the victims
of the tragedy. After tolling for a minute, the tower bells played a few
melodies while the ROTC put away the flags and traffic began moving again. ROTC cadet and UW junior Kathleen Carey said the ceremony
mirrored exactly the remembrance ceremony ROTC held last semester for the
victims of the Virginia Tech campus shootings. Carey also participated in that
ceremony. According to Carey, the ROTC “leapt” at the opportunity to
perform the ceremony because it is so important “to remember those who were
lost.” “It makes you stop and think and that’s basically what we
did,” Carey said. “We set up here, we saluted those people and made everyone on
the sidewalk stop and think about what happened at Northern Illinois.” UW junior Jennifer Haynes said it was important UW showed
support for those suffering from the tragedy, adding the ceremony was
“beautiful.” “Those kids just wanted an education, and look what
happened,” Haynes said. She added the tragedy at NIU was very personal for her
because her brother and a family friend were at the university during the shootings. Haymes said her friend was supposed to be in the building
when the shootings occurred, but he had left early to purchase a Valentine’s
Day present. The ceremony occurred exactly one week after former student
Steve Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire on a lecture hall filled with more than 100
students during a geology lecture on the NIU campus. Kazmierczak killed five people and injured more than a dozen
others using a shotgun and a handgun during his rampage. He then turned the gun
on himself.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 3:05am):
Well done, cadets!
-Badger Battalion alum
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 6:30am):
It would have been nice had anyone been informed of this memorial. I had class inside Social Science and nobody knew what was going on outside.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 7:39am):
With all due respect, why is the ROTC an integral, leading part of this memorial? It's virtually ironic.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 8:01am):
Aw, don't those brats look tough in their camos and their cute little swords!
I'd rather date a midget with cold sores.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 9:27am):
Yeah, you kids look mighty macho in those uniforms. But let's start up the draft and see if you punks stick around long.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 11:07am):
What does the ROTC have to do with the shooting in Illinois? Hell, what does the university even have to do with it?
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 11:39am):
What if some psycho showed up at this event and opened fire. And then all the cadets run for cover screaming for their mommies. HA HA, what a joke!
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 1:46pm):
"I'd rather date a midget with cold sores."
Then go ahead. That was extremely inapropriate and juvenile. Why don't you sacrafice some of YOUR time and serve YOUR country. You do realize that these "brats" are going to be defending your narrow minded, ungrateful, self centered pathetic excuse for an existence in just a few years, right?
Go back to your little hole and keep on doing what you're doing. We all need idiots like you to think of when we need a little bit of self esteem.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 1:52pm):
Ironic that ROTC led this memorial? I didn't hear anyone else taking the reigns. With all due respect, your comment was literally ironic.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 2:06pm):
Your negative, snide comments are really inappropriate. These students were trying do something positive and I commend them for it. By the way, no, I'm not an NRA member.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 5:35pm):
What does the ROTC have to do with the shooting in Illinois? Hell, what does the university even have to do with it?
While I may not be able to explain why the ROTC volunteered to do the memorial the University held it out of respect for our fellow college students at another university. Just because most of the campus may not have known who died doesn't mean we shouldn't show our respects to those people that did.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 5:59pm):
Thank you to those of you who are defending our soldiers. God knows they'll be doing more for us than any normal civilian would dare. As for those of you who are trash talking the military, you may as well move out of the country. Why stay in a place where you don't even appreciate the people who protect your freedom? I am embarrassed for you that you are so ignorant and unappreciative. I'd like to see you go through half the stress and hard work that these cadets go through.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 6:56pm):
"I'd rather date a midget with cold sores."
Go for for it, probably be a big step up for you.
PS. "midget" IS NOT PC
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 7:10pm):
Those are ROTC Cadets in the picture....they are not yet Officers.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 11:21pm):
Great job ARMY ROTC cadets! Thanks for taking time to help the rest of us stop and think...
-"But let's start up the draft and see if you punks stick around long."
Hahaha...What an idiot! The cadets are already IN the service! Boneheads like the character who made this comment always make me feel so SMART!
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 11:32pm):
1:46 and 2:06, chill out! It just didn't make sense to a lot of us that people who carry guns for a living pay tribute to people who were killed by guns.
And about serving your country, who wants to enlist when there's a good chance you'll get sent off to fight some bogus war that was started by our government under false pretenses? How offended do you think WE are by the leaders we have and the decisions they make? You are not the only one with an opinion, I hope you know.
Anonymous (February 23, 2008 @ 11:33am):
"1:46 and 2:06, chill out! It just didn't make sense to a lot of us that people who carry guns for a living pay tribute to people who were killed by guns."
It does make sense, and is not ironic because those paying tribute will only carry guns to protect themselves and our nation, while those killed were killed by people using guns with the intention of taking innocent lives
Anonymous (February 23, 2008 @ 12:01pm):
"Hahaha...What an idiot! The cadets are already IN the service!"
They could still dodge if they wanted to. It used to happen back in the 60's when we were fighting in Vietnam.
Anonymous (February 23, 2008 @ 3:33pm):
ROTC cadets are not officially enlisted yet. They can still withdraw from any obligation they have with the military. The only catch is that they'd have to repay any money they received for tuition, benefits, etc. In the case of a draft, they could try for student deferments, which of course are only good for a semester or an academic year if they are seniors or graduate students.
Your fate is not permanently and irrevocably sealed just because you're in ROTC. They don't own you, they're just renting you for a little while.
Anonymous (February 24, 2008 @ 8:09pm):
before you go all code pink...
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools" - Thucydides
daniel schmidt (February 25, 2008 @ 8:09am):
The ROTC cadets were out there to pay respect to a tragic event, nothing more. How ignorant is it to criticize cadets for paying a silent tribute to those students simply because one doesn't agree with American foreign policy? It would be akin to criticizing a math professor because you don't like calculus. For those that slept through their government 101 class, elected officials - civilians - decided when and where the military fights. I find it amusing that when discussing ROTC, people still bring up the issue of Vietnam. Unlike Vietnam, ROTC cadets were not drafted against their will - we signed up voluntarily. Despite what you may have seen in the movies or heard from a guy that knows a guy, we did not sign up to kill people or "look tough". We signed up because we wanted to serve a nation that, while certainly not perfect, has given millions of people the opportunity to live a better life. We signed up because perhaps sitting behind a desk doesn't sound all that appealing. We are not perfect, but who is? As for the military "owning us", I would ask you to look around. Who isn't "owned" in some way or another? Owned by a mortgage payment, by the company one works for, by the prejudices one has. We wear boots and dog tags, others wear shirts and ties. Try to overcome your prejudice and talk to an ROTC cadet; I think you'll find we are, for the most part, just like any other student. The only difference is that at the end of the day our ultimate goal is the preservation of all the things that we hold dear.
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