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JROTC instructors say the cut will hurt underprivileged students the hardest. Mission High's program exposes kids to things the instructors say most students' parents can't afford, such as the San Francisco Opera, horse-riding, or ice skating. Sarge says he often loans suits to the boys so they can attend the annual Battalion Ball at the Presidio. One cadet said that when her mom told her to get out of the house, she called Sarge to come pick her up; she now refers to him as "Dad."
Critics think creating role models with military trappings is dangerous. "I think it's entirely inappropriate to have someone in the military in front of such impressionable 14-year-olds," says ex-Commissioner Mark Sanchez, an eighth-grade teacher.
Then there's the threat that the district will lose more kids. Randy Laxa, a student at Burton High, says he would probably have transferred to a continuation high school if it weren't for drum corps practice, and without it next year, "I wouldn't really want to go to school at all anymore."
While still largely in denial, the instructors have faced the reality of having to find new jobs. Cadet Command will be starting 265 new JROTC programs nationwide over the next three years under this year's National Defense Authorization Act, and Bullard says he might apply to head up a program elsewhere. Yet in his office at Lowell, minutes before a student popped her head in to invite him to celebrate a cadet's birthday, he grew pensive. "If this program goes away, I'm gonna fall apart. These kids are the biggest part of my life."
The kids are holding out hope. In a conversation between two juniors at Balboa, it seems the JROTC debate had taught them less about democracy — they did get 55 percent of voters behind them, but not a change in policy — than politics.
"We're trying our best to stay on the good side of politicians," Tony Chen said.
"It's appeasement," Alvin Lam added.
"We're not breaking any rules right now — what do they want?" Chen said. "All I see is benefits" of JROTC. "I don't see any downsides." Then he remembered where he was, and smirked: "San Francisco is a liberal city, after all."
