Despite its liberal image, the Ivy League school this year has more students preparing to accept Marine Corps officer commissions upon graduation than any other Rhode Island college.

10:10 AM EST on Monday, March 27, 2006

BY TOM MOONEY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- At Brown University, commonly regarded as a bastion of liberalism -- where the few dozen organized student Republicans refer to themselves as "the most silent minority" -- you might think a Marine Corps recruiter looking for a few good officers might be wasting the shine on his boots.

Think again.

The Ivy League school has more students this year preparing to accept officer commissions upon graduation than any other Rhode Island college, says Marine Capt. Aaron Fielder.

The number might seem small; seven students who have completed Marine officer candidate training say they will accept commissions as second lieutenant upon graduation. But that number is twice as many as most other Rhode Island colleges, Fielder says, though the University of Rhode Island has five.

The statistic is generating some interest, not because it's that much higher than usual (a few Brown grads accept Marine commissions each year, Fielder says) but perhaps because of the timing: Polls show support for the war in Iraq lagging.

"Everybody I talk to about it, almost down to the last person, is surprised," says Fielder. "Brown has a reputation for being, well, a more liberally inclined school."

Then again, he says, Brown is also a liberal arts school that encourages students to consider a variety of careers, maybe even the military. Fielder knows it's not a philosophy exhibited everywhere.

For instance, Fielder says he was advised by his predecessor last June when he began recruiting in Rhode Island to save himself the walk down College Hill to the Rhode Island School of Design. There, the thinking went, students would be more prone to sketch an M-16 rifle than aim one.

The previous recruiter "told me he tried going there and got no reaction," says Fielder. "I've been told these RISD students know what they want to do when they get out." And a stint in the sands of Iraq is apparently not a popular goal.

AT SIX FEET, SEVEN INCHES,Christopher Pollak, 21, stands out among other Brown students walking to class along the College Green. He wears a typical college uniform -- jeans, a sweater, cowboy boots -- with perhaps the only hint of his career path covering his head: a camouflage cap.

Pollak grew up in Beaufort, S.C., just north of Parris Island, where the Marines' enlisted recruits undergo boot camp. He says he's always wanted to serve in the military; his mother was afraid he'd abandon school and enlist after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

At Brown, a few "wacko liberals" have questioned his intentions of becoming a Marine officer, Pollak says, though the vast majority of fellow students are supportive.

"When I see people pissed off about the current situation in Iraq it makes me happy to think that we have the right and freedom to disagree here. It actually gives me more motivation to serve, to protect the idea of freedom, to be who you are."

Pollak, a fourth-year junior majoring in history, says he enjoys the opportunity to debate the politics of the war.

"When people say it's impossible to start democracy in Iraq, I say, 'We did it in Japan and they are doing pretty well.' "

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

Brown University students Ashley Noreuil, left, Christopher Pollak and Bill Wilson gather at the College Green. They plan on beginning a career in the Marine Corps when they graduate.

Pollak and the other students enrolled in the program don't wear uniforms on campus and underwent all the required testing during summer months at the Marines' Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va.

There they were put through a rigorous program up to 10 weeks long where their leadership potential is tested physically and mentally. The physical requirements for passing the program are "a show stopper" for about 20 percent of applicants, says Fielder.

Students who pass the program earn as much as $8,000 annually in tuition aid until they graduate. If they choose at the end of their college time not to accept an officer commission, they have to pay back the tuition aid, says Fielder.

Pollak said officer school "was like going to summer camp and getting paid for it at the same time. You get paid to stay in shape, run around with the rifle. It was a blast. I loved it."

Pollack eventually wants to fly helicopters or become a combat engineer.

BILL WILSON, 22, of Greenwich, Conn., wants to fly helicopters too.

Wilson will graduate this spring with a degree in art history. But instead of spending the summer corporate job hunting with an Ivy League diploma in his attache case, he will be back in Quantico for six months of leadership training. Then, he hopes, on to flight school.

He's excited. His parents are worried.

"They were real gung ho before, but now that the reality is only a few months way, they're concerned," he says. Especially with so many reports of helicopter crashes in Iraq. But flying helicopters, "you're close to the support troops on the ground, and being right in the thick of it, it's a pretty exciting possibility."

He says he's not worried about being in harm's way: "I think every Marine thinks he is invincible."

It's the thrill, not politics or ideology, that drives Wilson. In fact, he says his father is a strong supporter of President Bush and his policies and "I'm far to the left of him" politically. In his father's eyes, "Bush can do no wrong. Every time we have dinner someone says something and that starts it off.

"I might not agree with all the reasons we went in [to Iraq] or why we went in at all," says Wilson, "but now that we are there, you do your duty and do the best you can. You try to make our country look good and do the mission -- spread democracy."

Like Pollak, Wilson lives in a fraternity that he readily admits insulates him from the more familiar anti-establishment political conversations heard on campus. Fraternity conversations sway more toward sports scores than the latest Baghdad insurgency.

Wilson says many people are surprised when they hear he is graduating from Brown to join the military.

"I get the strongest reaction from other guys who say, 'Oh, I was going to join the Marines, too, but something came up.' Or they'll say, 'The recruiter never called,' something like that. I think a lot of guys our age entertain the notion but it falls through."

Says Wilson: "I want to serve my country. I don't want anyone else to go in my place. And you only have a few years to do it before it's too late."

ASHLEY NOREUIL, 21, likes challenges. It's why she wants to join the Marines, she says.

A senior majoring in applied mathematics and economics, Noreuil grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she says she could have gone to college. Instead she chose Brown "because I wanted to see if I could compete at an elite school."

She's earning her degree in three years, she says.

Until she attended the summer Marine officer candidate school, she had never run as much as a mile. By the end of the summer she was running five miles along with her platoon. At 5-feet, 3-inches, she was the second-shortest in her platoon, yet she passed every physical test demanded of bigger and stronger candidates.

"There were all these physical and mental challenges and the fact that someone could demand so much of you and you could meet those challenges, that's exciting to me."

"People in general don't know what they're capable of doing because they don't have someone waking them up at 5 in the morning, demanding that you drill."

Noreuil says she was against the preemptive strike on Iraq. "However, like most people now, I think the damage has been done." If America is to improve its image, it must help Iraq succeed.

Friends ask her all the time if she's not just a little crazy for wanting to be a Marine.

"Everyone I've talked to on campus, with the exception of one, thinks it's odd. They say, 'We don't want you to die in Iraq,' and, 'Don't you think you should work to prevent war, not fight in a war?' But almost everyone is also impressed by it. Most people think it's so different."

Noreuil wants to work in intelligence. She's good with numbers and analyzing data. She will give the Marines five years or so. Then, she says, she will still have plenty of time to get her master's degree and start climbing the ranks of corporate America.

Unless, of course, her biggest fear comes true.

"What scares me most is not wanting to get out."

tmooney@projo.com / (401) 277-7359