Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) trains students in schools, colleges, and universities to become officers in the United States armed services. It seeks to develop students for positions of military leadership. Qualified students take ROTC training in addition to their regular school or college work. All such training is given on campus, except for field training during the summer.
Students enrolled in an ROTC unit are organized along military lines. One student serves as cadet commander, and others hold staff or command positions. The commissioned officer directing the unit usually has the title of professor of military science (for Army units), naval science (for Navy units), or aerospace studies (for Air Force units). The staff includes officers and enlisted personnel who teach courses, and others who handle the administration of the unit.
Army ROTC
consists of two divisions. Junior units provide three years of basic military training in high schools. Senior units enroll students for two to four years in military schools, colleges, and universities. Course work includes drills, lectures, demonstrations, and field trips. The first two years of the senior course may be required for qualified students. The last two years are voluntary. In the Advanced ROTC Course program, students may enter in their junior year. Instead of the regular first two-year program, they attend a qualifying basic training course in the summer before entering the advanced course. Students receive pay and allowances in their junior and senior year training. The Army grants commissions as second lieutenant in the Army Reserve, the Army National Guard, or the Active Army to students who complete a two- or four-year program and a summer of field training. The Army designates students who demonstrate exceptional academic and leadership abilities as Distinguished Military Graduates.
Upon graduation, the new officers serve eight years in the Active Army, the Army Reserve, or the National Guard, or a combination of two or all three of these components. The Army has ROTC units in more than 270 colleges and universities and about 800 high schools. In addition, students at many other educational institutions may enroll in ROTC units at partnership schools or at host universities. Women are admitted to ROTC units at partnership schools and host universities and colleges.
Navy ROTC
has units in about 65 colleges and universities and about 230 high schools. Women are admitted in the program at host universities and colleges. The senior course level has two types of training. The scholarship NROTC program provides a four-year education paid for almost entirely by the government. Students in the program must take three summer cruises as part of their ROTC course work. Upon graduation, they receive commissions as ensigns in the Navy or as second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Under the Navy’s college NROTC program, students have the same course work as do those in the regular program, but they have only one summer training cruise, and they pay their own tuition and receive a monthly allowance during their last two years. They serve three years of active duty after receiving commissions as ensigns in the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve. Graduates of the scholarship NROTC must serve for four years.
Air Force ROTC
operates in about 150 universities and colleges and about 300 high schools. It has both junior and senior programs that resemble those of Army ROTC. College students take one, two, or four years of part-time military training, and one summer of field training at an Air Force base. They may apply for a scholarship and allowances. Special programs are available for students who seek assignments as pilots, navigators, or missile officers, or as medical or legal personnel. The one-year program is specially designed to quickly fill roles in certain understaffed fields. Newly appointed second lieutenants in the Air Force Reserve must serve four years of active duty. Pilots and navigators have longer commitments. Distinguished Military Graduates are offered commissions in the regular Air Force. The Air Force admits women to ROTC programs at host universities and colleges.
History.
The ROTC has its origin in the Morrill, or Land-Grant, Act of 1862. The act authorized grants of public land to state colleges. In return, it required those colleges to offer military training for all able-bodied male students. The first actual Reserve commissions were granted to students in 1908. The National Defense Act of 1916 established the first Army ROTC units. It set up an Officers Reserve Corps to be composed of men trained in the ROTC and in training camps. By the fall of 1916, the Army had enrolled about 40,000 students. In 1926, the Navy established its ROTC program, and set up units at six colleges and universities. The Air Force began its ROTC program in 1947, when it became an independent military service.
See also Air Force, United States ; Army, United States ; Marine Corps, United States ; Military training ; Navy, United States
