Editor’s Note: Part of an ongoing series about how Iowa State has been impacted by the conflict in Iraq.

Though the Bush administration has said the conflict in Iraq is coming to a close, graduating Reserve Officer Training Corps students are just beginning to gear up for training.

When he graduates from Iowa State May 10, Bryce Butler will go into immediate active duty. Shortly afterwards, he will be stationed in Fort Knox, Ky., where he will begin training to become a tank officer. After that, the senior in economics doesn’t know where his destination is, though he has his hopes set on Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga.

In February, Butler told the Daily he was trying not to focus on the possibility of going to Iraq.

“Right now I have no idea where I’ll be,” he said this week. “The war really slowed the process down.”

Butler said he will complete three phases of training if he pursues Ranger School. The first is intense physical training called the darby phase, followed by a mountain training phase and a jungle phase. This training will last three months.

“It’s hell, apparently,” he said. “My dad went through it in the ’70s.”

Butler’s sister, Ashley, freshman in biology, said her family isn’t frightened about Bryce’s endeavors in the military.

“We’re not nervous at all,” she said. “We have a bond with the Army and we feel Bryce is ready to be a part of it.”

Butler said his father was in the military longer than 20 years as a Judge Advocate General.

“My mom does all the worrying,” he said. “She swore she’d never marry a military man and she did. And now I’m in the military.”

Marvin Meek, professor and chairman of military science and tactics, said the Reserve Officer Training Corps produces 4,000 officers nationwide per year from 270 universities.

“The only way to become an officer is with an undergraduate degree,” he said.

“Here at Iowa State, these men and women are just students. We’re preparing them for life and how to be leaders, but the real Army training comes after graduation.”

Butler said he is content with his decision to join the Army.

“I feel a sense of pride in America and I want to give something back,” he said.

Butler said that although the men and women in the military don’t typically want to go to war, he is thrilled with the outcome of the situation in Iraq.

“It was a very rapid execution of our forces,” he said. “With our technology, equipment and training, we executed quickly and effectively. You couldn’t ask for a better outcome.”

Butler will go into immediate active duty May 10.