 machine isn't it, but you know no matter how impressive the body or components of this premier Air Force fighter are, just won't fly without an engine. And that's where I come in. Hi, my name is intense all-har. I'm a graduate from Detachment 695 at the University of Portland in Oregon. I work here at the Propulsion Directorate in Wright Lab, Dayton, Ohio, in the Turban Research Facility. I'm a facility engineer for the Air Force and I'm responsible for this seven million dollar testing facility known as the Advanced Turban Aerothermal Research Rig or otherwise known as the ATAR. This facility is the only source that evaluates both turbine aerodynamic and heat transfer performance. It uses full-scale test articles operating under correctly scaled engine conditions. It validates heat transfer and cooling design of developmental hardware and helps us gain a fundamental understanding of turbine fluid dynamics. As a result, aerodynamic performance measurement is made much more affordable. Who would have thought in two and a half year ROTC scholarship could have got me this far. If you're a mechanical or aeronautical engineer enrolled in ROTC, if you're eye on a commission, I hope that within the next few minutes you'll be even more convinced that you've made the right choices. I didn't go straight into college or ROTC right out of high school because I wanted a year to really figure out what I really wanted out of my life. Something I learned in that first year was that it really was very difficult to get a job without any qualifications and with nobody out there looking for that type of person. I also saw a lot of people that were very unhappy with where they had got to in life and here along came ROTC and said yeah sure we'll guarantee you a job. I see a lot of my classmates coming out of college they don't have a job. Here I am already working pulling down a nice salary and I feel like that was something that helped me decide for ROTC. For the first year of my college I had to pretty much pay my own way through so I went to a community college called Portland Community College in the district and I took a lot of base-level classes and so I built up about a year's worth of college credits at the same time going to ROTC as a cross-town cadet which is where you're from another university and you go to a sister detachment. I ended up going to University of Portland in my sophomore year and basically paying my own way through again the help from my parents and that allowed me to at least be on campus and get a higher visibility and then I went to field training after my sophomore year and coming back from field training I had a lot of the I had the ability to go up in front of people my confidence was increased I don't know a thousand fold and I came back from camp just a lot more ready to take on those high-profile high visibility jobs. The greatest thing I think that ROTC gave me was the ability to deal with people to work in an environment where there are different conflicting personalities working together to try and reach the same goal and that ability to deal with people and to work with people and to sort of create a cohesive team out of maybe something that isn't very cohesive or something that ROTC really helped me to do. The thing I think I most like about the Air Force is the fact that it moves you through your career it gives you different opportunities different chances I could be an engineer one week program manager the next year I can be operational the next and I always have an opportunity to lead all the way along. When I'm not working I try to get out as much as I can my fiancee has horses so we go to the stables a lot like I said before I'm working on the aero club I'm trying to get my private pilot license I help out with the local Boy Scout troop I do that about once a week and usually a lot of my weekends taking over that and I spent a lot of time working on my Jeep because it needs a lot of work. There is some sense of purpose in the Air Force you're doing a job for a reason you're not just going to work for the nine to five to pay off the mortgage I mean okay all that is part of it but at the end of the day you contribute towards national security that's something that you don't get from your average corporate job you're doing something for a greater good doing something that has a higher ideal in mind. The Air Force gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment it really allows me to do something that I just wouldn't have the opportunity to do in the outside world. I do a little of everything in my job from turning wrenches to adjusting calibrations and collecting data to troubleshooting on the computer. Success is never easy and it always follows a lot of hard work. Mine started with my decision to enroll in RTC a decision that resulted in a rewarding lifestyle and career and that's just the beginning I really can't recommend it enough. Think about what you're doing in RTC and if the ideals appeal to you go for it. I'd wish you luck we all know that luck is where opportunity and preparation meet. ROTC is the opportunity waiting for you to put in the footwork. Good luck in your preparation.