The first time Matthew Stewart mentioned the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) to his parents was on the drive to church. The conversation caught his parents off guard.
“My parents were shocked. They definitely didn’t know a lot about it at first,” Stewart said.
Still in high school at the time in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, Stewart had been considering joining the military for a while, even though his family had no history of service. He wanted a career that was about more than making money and would allow him to have an impact on the community. He believed the military naturally aligned with his interests, such as staying physically active and not always sitting behind a desk.
“I didn’t know a ton about it either, but I explained to them what I was learning about it, and they warmed up to it more. Now, obviously, they’re very supportive of it all.”
Army ROTC is a four-year program that students begin the moment they step on campus. Students go from civilian to, by the time they graduate, a commissioned officer in the US Army able to manage a platoon of 40 soldiers.
There were a couple of ROTC programs on Stewart’s radar, but the University of Notre Dame’s stood out. Although he couldn’t officially visit the campus then due to the pandemic, he reached out to the Army ROTC office, known as the Fightin’ Irish Battalion, and spoke with Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Christopher D. Pratt about the program. Its motto is “God, Country, Notre Dame.”
“The story [Pratt] was giving made me feel like the University’s ROTC program was like a family, with a community dynamic. I thought at Notre Dame I’d feel more at home, and ultimately, that was the main driving factor.”
Beyond the University’s typical educational requirements for every undergraduate student, Stewart, as part of Army ROTC, was required to participate in workouts twice a week to prepare for a semesterly fitness test. He was also required to attend a Leadership Lab once a week, where students participate in simulated combat missions and are evaluated on their performance by current seniors.
Sometime between junior and senior year, Army ROTC students attend a monthlong training exercise at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where they are tested on everything they’ve learned.
“It was hard for me to take on anything else in addition to [ROTC and my major]. But I mean, coming in, I’ve known that I wanted to be in the Army. So it wasn’t super hard for me to go all in on ROTC,” Stewart said.
For Stewart, being all in included joining the Ranger Challenge Team, which participates in a regional competition against other Army ROTC teams from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee to demonstrate students’ training in multiple military skill–related events.
If a team places first or second, members get to compete at the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at West Point against other competition winners, some West Point teams, and other international military academy teams. Notre Dame’s Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team competed at Sandhurst at the beginning of May, with Stewart as squad leader.
“It’s helped me build up that mental toughness. As overwhelmed as I can feel with exams or homework assignments, I know I’ve done harder things in my life,” Stewart said. “It’s helped me put things into perspective. I’ll get through it.”
Stewart said his favorite part of the Ranger Challenge, by far, is the team. Composed of people he knows want to be in the room, the team does extra training together so everyone is pushing each other to be better.
“We have very hard tryouts to be a part of the team, so the people who end up on the team are the most motivated and passionate people you know. It’s very inspiring.”
Now, as a senior, Stewart’s role has changed from Army ROTC participant to leader, organizing workouts, planning the skills to train, and making a calendar of programming for the semester. Altogether, he has a new appreciation for his predecessors as well as Notre Dame’s Army ROTC leadership. That’s all in addition to the required classes for his mechanical engineering major, which he plans to incorporate into his military career.
Upon graduation, he aims to pursue combat engineering, where he would be part of an infantry unit and help destroy, overcome, or even place obstacles. An example would be if his platoon were to come across a river, they may need to build a floating bridge to get vehicles and equipment across.
“[Combat engineering] very much aligns with my interests of being active and outdoors, while also being able to solve engineering problems at the same time,” Stewart said.
Notre Dame has also prepared Stewart on how to bring his faith onto the battlefield. The University’s ROTC curriculum requires classes about both morality and ethics. But Stewart, being all in on the Army as well as his faith, took a Lay Leader course in his final semester to become certified to administer a proper Catholic prayer service when he is unable to go to Catholic Mass.
“Here, it’s completely normal to go up to your friend and start having theological conversations, and it’s nice. It’s helped me challenge and grow in my faith over the last four years,” Stewart said. “It will be harder to find those opportunities, and that’s something I’ll definitely miss, that strong faith presence and community.”