Posted: 8/10/2009 6:47:24 PM EDT
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I'm looking at this for a future option, say in a year or so. I'm looking for input from people who have been through ROTC (of any service, but please specify), are currently in ROTC, or are entering ROTC. DET commanders feel free to jump in here, via IM if necessary I know of a few of you guys just don't have the names to IM. I'm basically looking for the pros and cons. Interesting things about ROTC. Things to remember to do. Dates to meet and just general tips and other information that might sway my choice to ROTC or not.
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Are you already in college?
ROTC is generally based on a four year program of study, if you are prior service you can skip the first two years, or you can go to a summer camp to cover the first two years worth of material. Unless you are on scholarship, there is no service obligation for the first two years of ROTC, to enroll in the third year (MSIII) you must enlist in the Army Reserves as an E-1/cadet (for Army, the other services have similar requirements). If you're interested in the Marines, you would join Navy ROTC and select the Marine Option. For the most part, it's another college course. We had class twice a week and drill/lab twice a week, plus weekend exercises, flag detail (putting the flag up or taking it down each day), PT, etc. Uniforms were only worn for class/drill. PT was mandatory for contracted cadets, highly recommended for anybody who wanted to be a contract. If somebody failed to uphold the terms of their scholarship (poor grades, failure to comply with ROTC requirements,etc) their scholarship could be transferred by the ROTC department to another cadet. When I was in, monthly pay was only $100 for contracted cadets, plus a book allowance each quarter/semester, my understanding is that they pay more now ($300-500, I think). Some departments also make arrangements for reduced cost campus housing for scholarship cadets. For Army, you go to summer camp between your junior (MS III) and senior (MS IV) years of ROTC, summer camp was graded on a scale of 3 to 5 (1 and 2 basically meant they were kicking you out, I've heard of ONE person who was on track to get a 1 before he quit), your score from advanced camp was plugged into a matrix with your GPA and your instructor ratings to compile a national order of merit list. Your rankings in that OML would impact your branch assignment and whether you got active duty, the higher on the list, the more likely you would be to get one of your top branch choices and go active duty. Commitment after four years of ROTC was for four years of active duty, four years reserve, but if you didn't get AD, you would be assigned to the Reserves or Guard for eight years. I HAVE heard of people who were assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve who never bothered to go to officer basic course getting orders in the mail ordering them to report for OBC in a completely different branch than they were originally commissioned (such as chemical corps). |
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Quoted:
Are you already in college? ROTC is generally based on a four year program of study, if you are prior service you can skip the first two years, or you can go to a summer camp to cover the first two years worth of material. Unless you are on scholarship, there is no service obligation for the first two years of ROTC, to enroll in the third year (MSIII) you must enlist in the Army Reserves as an E-1/cadet (for Army, the other services have similar requirements). If you're interested in the Marines, you would join Navy ROTC and select the Marine Option. For the most part, it's another college course. We had class twice a week and drill/lab twice a week, plus weekend exercises, flag detail (putting the flag up or taking it down each day), PT, etc. Uniforms were only worn for class/drill. PT was mandatory for contracted cadets, highly recommended for anybody who wanted to be a contract. If somebody failed to uphold the terms of their scholarship (poor grades, failure to comply with ROTC requirements,etc) their scholarship could be transferred by the ROTC department to another cadet. When I was in, monthly pay was only $100 for contracted cadets, plus a book allowance each quarter/semester, my understanding is that they pay more now ($300-500, I think). Some departments also make arrangements for reduced cost campus housing for scholarship cadets. For Army, you go to summer camp between your junior (MS III) and senior (MS IV) years of ROTC, summer camp was graded on a scale of 3 to 5 (1 and 2 basically meant they were kicking you out, I've heard of ONE person who was on track to get a 1 before he quit), your score from advanced camp was plugged into a matrix with your GPA and your instructor ratings to compile a national order of merit list. Your rankings in that OML would impact your branch assignment and whether you got active duty, the higher on the list, the more likely you would be to get one of your top branch choices and go active duty. Commitment after four years of ROTC was for four years of active duty, four years reserve, but if you didn't get AD, you would be assigned to the Reserves or Guard for eight years. I HAVE heard of people who were assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve who never bothered to go to officer basic course getting orders in the mail ordering them to report for OBC in a completely different branch than they were originally commissioned (such as chemical corps). Why would people get assigned to the IRR, instead of the guard? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Are you already in college? ROTC is generally based on a four year program of study, if you are prior service you can skip the first two years, or you can go to a summer camp to cover the first two years worth of material. Unless you are on scholarship, there is no service obligation for the first two years of ROTC, to enroll in the third year (MSIII) you must enlist in the Army Reserves as an E-1/cadet (for Army, the other services have similar requirements). If you're interested in the Marines, you would join Navy ROTC and select the Marine Option. For the most part, it's another college course. We had class twice a week and drill/lab twice a week, plus weekend exercises, flag detail (putting the flag up or taking it down each day), PT, etc. Uniforms were only worn for class/drill. PT was mandatory for contracted cadets, highly recommended for anybody who wanted to be a contract. If somebody failed to uphold the terms of their scholarship (poor grades, failure to comply with ROTC requirements,etc) their scholarship could be transferred by the ROTC department to another cadet. When I was in, monthly pay was only $100 for contracted cadets, plus a book allowance each quarter/semester, my understanding is that they pay more now ($300-500, I think). Some departments also make arrangements for reduced cost campus housing for scholarship cadets. For Army, you go to summer camp between your junior (MS III) and senior (MS IV) years of ROTC, summer camp was graded on a scale of 3 to 5 (1 and 2 basically meant they were kicking you out, I've heard of ONE person who was on track to get a 1 before he quit), your score from advanced camp was plugged into a matrix with your GPA and your instructor ratings to compile a national order of merit list. Your rankings in that OML would impact your branch assignment and whether you got active duty, the higher on the list, the more likely you would be to get one of your top branch choices and go active duty. Commitment after four years of ROTC was for four years of active duty, four years reserve, but if you didn't get AD, you would be assigned to the Reserves or Guard for eight years. I HAVE heard of people who were assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve who never bothered to go to officer basic course getting orders in the mail ordering them to report for OBC in a completely different branch than they were originally commissioned (such as chemical corps). Why would people get assigned to the IRR, instead of the guard? A person would go IRR if they couldn't find a Guard or Reserve unit with an opening to join in their area. |
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Quoted:
I'm looking at this for a future option, say in a year or so. I'm looking for input from people who have been through ROTC (of any service, but please specify), are currently in ROTC, or are entering ROTC. DET commanders feel free to jump in here, via IM if necessary I know of a few of you guys just don't have the names to IM. I'm basically looking for the pros and cons. Interesting things about ROTC. Things to remember to do. Dates to meet and just general tips and other information that might sway my choice to ROTC or not. Thanks OK, I've got a little more time now. If you go ROTC, academics should be your #1 priority, with PT being #2. Ranger Challenge, the Ranger company, various schools, they're all fun, but what the military wants out of you is a degree with a high GPA. I mentioned the Order of Merit List, grades are a significant component of that. Advanced Camp scores are the other component, and your first oppurtunity to shine at Advanced Camp is the PT test, so you want to be maxing that. A LOT will be forgiven for a PT stud with decent grades. A downside is that ROTC can be a time sink and make getting the good grades more difficult, and the military doesn't really care about the difference in difficulty between schools - they have the same standards across all schools, so it doesn't matter if a 1.9 at Georgia Tech in engineering as a freshman is good academic standing according to the school, it's below the Army's 2.0 minimum. Having volunteered for everything won't help you much when the cadre are deciding whether to retain you after a semester of poor grades, especially if the cadre have rotated so the new ones don't know you very well, btdt. If you do get dropped from ROTC or a scholarship, the military DOES have the option of court-martialing you if the investigating officer decides you willfully violated the terms of the contract, even if they don't, you have to repay the scholarship or contract either by paying it off or serving enlisted in whatever MOS the Army decides it wants you in. ROTC programs vary considerably based on the capabilities of the officers in charge and the traditions of the cadet corps. When I was in ROTC, a fair percentage of my fellow cadets were there primarily to get their school paid for, and it showed. Of the cadets who were in ROTC because they really wanted to be Army officers in my class, most of the gung ho ones got dropped for academics, in some cases because they got bad advice from the cadre. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm looking at this for a future option, say in a year or so. I'm looking for input from people who have been through ROTC (of any service, but please specify), are currently in ROTC, or are entering ROTC. DET commanders feel free to jump in here, via IM if necessary I know of a few of you guys just don't have the names to IM. I'm basically looking for the pros and cons. Interesting things about ROTC. Things to remember to do. Dates to meet and just general tips and other information that might sway my choice to ROTC or not. Thanks OK, I've got a little more time now. If you go ROTC, academics should be your #1 priority, with PT being #2. Ranger Challenge, the Ranger company, various schools, they're all fun, but what the military wants out of you is a degree with a high GPA. I mentioned the Order of Merit List, grades are a significant component of that. Advanced Camp scores are the other component, and your first oppurtunity to shine at Advanced Camp is the PT test, so you want to be maxing that. A LOT will be forgiven for a PT stud with decent grades. A downside is that ROTC can be a time sink and make getting the good grades more difficult, and the military doesn't really care about the difference in difficulty between schools - they have the same standards across all schools, so it doesn't matter if a 1.9 at Georgia Tech in engineering as a freshman is good academic standing according to the school, it's below the Army's 2.0 minimum. Having volunteered for everything won't help you much when the cadre are deciding whether to retain you after a semester of poor grades, especially if the cadre have rotated so the new ones don't know you very well, btdt. If you do get dropped from ROTC or a scholarship, the military DOES have the option of court-martialing you if the investigating officer decides you willfully violated the terms of the contract, even if they don't, you have to repay the scholarship or contract either by paying it off or serving enlisted in whatever MOS the Army decides it wants you in. ROTC programs vary considerably based on the capabilities of the officers in charge and the traditions of the cadet corps. When I was in ROTC, a fair percentage of my fellow cadets were there primarily to get their school paid for, and it showed. Of the cadets who were in ROTC because they really wanted to be Army officers in my class, most of the gung ho ones got dropped for academics, in some cases because they got bad advice from the cadre. Yeah, I have talked to two different schools and got two totally separate answers to my questions. The first guy basically brushed me off because I was like 5 hours away from his school and a different state, even though my resume and everything is basically off the charts. I called a local school and they were more than thrilled to answer my questions. It appears that "local" schools are much more willing to seek out the info for their potential cadets, than out of state detachments. Does one have to do ranger challenge and items of that nature, like does it have any impact on their branch selection? Furthermore, I've heard one can pick their branch if they agree to 3 extra years in that branch, is this true? |
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Quoted:
If you go ROTC, academics should be your #1 priority, with PT being #2. Ranger Challenge, the Ranger company, various schools, they're all fun, but what the military wants out of you is a degree with a high GPA. I mentioned the Order of Merit List, grades are a significant component of that. Advanced Camp scores are the other component, and your first oppurtunity to shine at Advanced Camp is the PT test, so you want to be maxing that. A LOT will be forgiven for a PT stud with decent grades. Yup. The #1 on my class's OML was a nursing student who never did ANYTHING extracurricular in ROTC...no Ranger anything, no military balls, no airborne school, no nothing except make a 3.8 GPA. If you get the chance to do airborne, air assault, etc, take it...unless you are assigned to a unit where those things are important you will never get to go. By the way, the OML for those things is usually based on one thing...PT scores. You need a particular kind of attitude for advanced camp. It's PT, small unit tactics and a whole bunch of bullshit that is really designed to evaluate your tolerance for bullshit. I would take any promises made by cadre with the same grain of salt I'd reserve for a recruiting NCO, because bottom line that's what ROTC cadre are. |
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I'm looking at this for a future option, say in a year or so. I'm looking for input from people who have been through ROTC (of any service, but please specify), are currently in ROTC, or are entering ROTC. DET commanders feel free to jump in here, via IM if necessary I know of a few of you guys just don't have the names to IM. I'm basically looking for the pros and cons. Interesting things about ROTC. Things to remember to do. Dates to meet and just general tips and other information that might sway my choice to ROTC or not. Thanks OK, I've got a little more time now. If you go ROTC, academics should be your #1 priority, with PT being #2. Ranger Challenge, the Ranger company, various schools, they're all fun, but what the military wants out of you is a degree with a high GPA. I mentioned the Order of Merit List, grades are a significant component of that. Advanced Camp scores are the other component, and your first oppurtunity to shine at Advanced Camp is the PT test, so you want to be maxing that. A LOT will be forgiven for a PT stud with decent grades. A downside is that ROTC can be a time sink and make getting the good grades more difficult, and the military doesn't really care about the difference in difficulty between schools - they have the same standards across all schools, so it doesn't matter if a 1.9 at Georgia Tech in engineering as a freshman is good academic standing according to the school, it's below the Army's 2.0 minimum. Having volunteered for everything won't help you much when the cadre are deciding whether to retain you after a semester of poor grades, especially if the cadre have rotated so the new ones don't know you very well, btdt. If you do get dropped from ROTC or a scholarship, the military DOES have the option of court-martialing you if the investigating officer decides you willfully violated the terms of the contract, even if they don't, you have to repay the scholarship or contract either by paying it off or serving enlisted in whatever MOS the Army decides it wants you in. ROTC programs vary considerably based on the capabilities of the officers in charge and the traditions of the cadet corps. When I was in ROTC, a fair percentage of my fellow cadets were there primarily to get their school paid for, and it showed. Of the cadets who were in ROTC because they really wanted to be Army officers in my class, most of the gung ho ones got dropped for academics, in some cases because they got bad advice from the cadre. Yeah, I have talked to two different schools and got two totally separate answers to my questions. The first guy basically brushed me off because I was like 5 hours away from his school and a different state, even though my resume and everything is basically off the charts. I called a local school and they were more than thrilled to answer my questions. It appears that "local" schools are much more willing to seek out the info for their potential cadets, than out of state detachments. Does one have to do ranger challenge and items of that nature, like does it have any impact on their branch selection? Furthermore, I've heard one can pick their branch if they agree to 3 extra years in that branch, is this true? Ranger Challenge is entirely voluntary, although if you're in good shape and can do the tasks required you may get some pressure to do it, especially from the cadet chain of command. It may be a factor in your instructor ratings, otherwise it has no bearing on the OML, which is how your branch is determined. I've heard the claim that you can select a branch of your choice for a longer commitment, but have no real proof of it. I don't think it was an option when my brother commissioned in 2004 (he was commissioned Ordnance, but with a branch detail to Infantry and successfully applied to remain Infantry). |
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4 year ROTC Scholarship. Commissioned Quartermaster 1980, 26 years active duty, Hawaii (twice), Utah, Korea, Germany, Georgia and Washington D.C. No tabs or any other type of extra duty. Retired 2006, Pentagon duty AMC, grade LTC.
Good luck with your education and career. |
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Be prepared for it to suck up a lot of your time if you do it. You may only be taking 3-4 hours of ROTC-related classes but they will be expecting you to do all sorts of after-hours stuff including weekends. Just take it into consideration and don't sign up for too many other classes at the same time. It's good to volunteer for different things but as others said, focus on your grades and keeping up your physical fitness above anything else.
I did not end up joining but did AFROTC for a little while. They had programs for all 4 years or just 2 years. There is a summer training you take one of your last summers in college in place of Basic Officer Training (although don't expect it to be any easier, ROTC cadets are the bottom of the barrel at Maxwell). |
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Be prepared for it to suck up a lot of your time if you do it. You may only be taking 3-4 hours of ROTC-related classes but they will be expecting you to do all sorts of after-hours stuff including weekends. Just take it into consideration and don't sign up for too many other classes at the same time. It's good to volunteer for different things but as others said, focus on your grades and keeping up your physical fitness above anything else. I did not end up joining but did AFROTC for a little while. They had programs for all 4 years or just 2 years. There is a summer training you take one of your last summers in college in place of Basic Officer Training (although don't expect it to be any easier, ROTC cadets are the bottom of the barrel at Maxwell). So you mean to tell me I could skip the first two years and catch up, or do the first two do the training and then not have ROTC my last two college years? How many classes would you reccomend? What takes place on weekends? |
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I finished two years of Naval ROTC as a Navy option and decided that I wanted to be a Marine. The Navy didn't want to let me go because they needed Sailors. I DORed and I'm finishing up USMC PLC Juniors tomorrow. Do you have any questions? PROS: It is easy You get paid for fogging a mirror and showing up for drill and PT You have the support of a unit CONS: OCS makes better officers  You probably won't have much of a social life There are other options that don't involve losing sleep and your social life throughout school There's a lot more to it but I'd rather you ask direct questions. |
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Grades are more important to the cadet than the cadre. High grades go along way to you getting the branch of your choice. You are a student first because, no graduation, no commission. Cadre will will hang onto slugs for years to keep there numbers up and look good to Cadet Command.
Former Senior Military Instructor Minnesota State University, Mankato 2005-2007 |
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Grades are more important to the cadet than the cadre. High grades go along way to you getting the branch of your choice. You are a student first because, no graduation, no commission. Cadre will will hang onto slugs for years to keep there numbers up and look good to Cadet Command. Former Senior Military Instructor Minnesota State University, Mankato 2005-2007 Basically grades are the most important? Did you notice any favoritism, or popularity stuff going into giving cadets advantages or cool slots or anything? |
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