DOWNEY — Both Downey and Warren High Schools will soon offer a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (JROTC) as an elective, officials have announced.

Along with the physical activity and leadership development, students who join the JROTC programs would be potentially exposed to other course enhancements, including STEM, Cyber, health and fitness, first aid, and team building.

Former Mayor Mario Guerra – who currently serves as Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army – says bringing ROTC to Downey Unified School District has been in the works for around five years.

“The school district has been an amazing partner,” said Guerra. “If you look at the mission statement of Downey Unified, it’s ‘career pathways, career ready, and people of character,’ and JROTC is not a recruiting, its not military in that standpoint; it is a leadership and personal development course.”

Guerra said that JROTC would “change lives.”

“This will help leaders come from our community,” said Guerra.

Gen. Gary Brito, who was in Los Angeles last week to promote the Army’s new “Be All You Can Be” campaign, commented on the benefits of JROTC.

“Many of our high schools have Junior ROTC programs, which is a great start as well,” said Brito. “[JROTC] talks to work ethics, some of the basics of what might be expected when you join the military: physical fitness, discipline, just the work ethics that make a great citizen for the country.”

Participating in JROTC carries no commitment to later serve in the military.

Brito acknowledged that not all who join JROTC go on to join the military, though said that participants are still “great contributors to the American fiber.”

Still, he encouraged those who may join JROTC (and ROTC in college) to consider continuing on with the army, expanded on how the Army could prepare young men and women for several different career paths.

“You could go into combat arms specialty. You could be a cyber warrior.  You could train to be a lawyer. You could train to be a dog veterinarian. You can be a paratrooper that’s been trained in culinary arts,” said Brito. “We offer many opportunities in the STEM world, as well and I will tell you those come with high-quality training to ensure that he or she that may join – whatever specialty – has whatever he or she needs to perform well and contribute to the combat mission of the United States Army.

“Many of those skills are transferable if you should decide to get out after a couple of years, and many of those skills are built upon if you stay in the army and advance from rank to rank through our professional military education, some of which may involve some higher-level education, and certainly the training that you need to be proficient.”

DUSD has already expressed excitement and enthusiasm over the addition of the new elective.

“We are very proud of our partnership with the US Army and what launching the JROTC program next fall means for our high school students,” said Downey Unified Superintendent Dr. John Garcia. “Not only will our students in this program learn significant leadership skills, but they will also be exposed to the over 150 different careers the US Army offers.”

“As a Board, our goal is to provide as many college and career opportunities to our students as possible, in order to ensure that they thrive after high school,” stated Board of Education President, Giggy Perez-Saab. “The options and legacy that the US Army offers is something that we are proud of and the JROTC programs will further provide our students with the tools needed to go out into the world globally competitive.”

The school district is aiming to offer the JROTC course as early as the upcoming fall semester next school year.