Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps

The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military bases across the world. The program was originally created as part of the National Defense Act of 1916 and later expanded under the 1964 ROTC Vitalization Act. The Coast Guard was added in 1989 under P.L. 101-225. The Space Force established its first unit in 2019.

Role and purpose

According to Title 10, Section 2031 of the United States Code, the purpose of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is "to instill in students in secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, and personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment." Additional objectives are established by the service departments of the Department of Defense. Under 542.4 of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Department of the Army has declared those objectives for each cadet to be:

Developing citizenship and patriotism
Developing self-reliance and responsiveness to all authority
Improving the ability to communicate well both orally and in writing
Developing an appreciation of the importance of physical fitness
Increasing a respect for the role of the U.S. Armed Forces in support of national objectives
Developing a knowledge of team building skills and basic military skills
Taking 1–3 years of the course grants cadets the ability to rank higher if they pursue a military career.

Section 524.5 of the CFR National Defense title states in part that JROTC should "provide meaningful leadership instruction of benefit to the student and of value to the Armed Forces....Students will acquire: An understanding of the fundamental concept of leadership, military art and science, An introduction to related professional knowledge, and An appreciation of requirements for national security. The dual roles of citizen/soldier and soldier/citizen are studied.... These programs will enable cadets to better serve their country as leaders, as citizens, and in military service should they enter it.... The JROTC and NDCC are not, of themselves, officer-producing programs but should create favorable attitudes and impressions toward the Services and toward careers in the Armed Forces." This, importantly, does not mean the cadet has any obligation to join any branch of the Armed Forces as the last sentence stresses.
From 1916 to 1971, JROTC programs were not open to full participation from female students. Beginning in 1973 female participation was allowed in both college ROTC and high school JROTC when President Gerald Ford signed Public Law 93-165.
The military has stated that JROTC will inform young Americans about the opportunities available in the military and "may help motivate young Americans toward military service." A 1999 Army policy memorandum stated that "While not designed to be a specific recruiting tool, there is nothing in existing law that precludes... facilitating the recruitment of young men and women into the U.S. Army," directing instructors to "actively assist cadets who want to enlist in the military emphasize service in the U.S. Army; facilitate recruiter access to cadets in JROTC program and to the entire student body... work closely with high school guidance counselors to sell the Army story."
In a February 2000 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, the armed service chiefs of staff testified that 30%-50% of graduating JROTC cadets go on to join the military:

General James L. Jones, then Commandant of the Marine Corps, testified that the value of the Marine JROTC program "is beyond contest. Fully one-third of our young men and women who join a Junior ROTC program wind up wearing the uniform of a Marine."
General Eric K. Shinseki, then Chief of Staff of the United States Army, testified that "Our indications are about 30 percent of those youngsters—we don't recruit them, as you know. We are not permitted to do that. But by virtue of the things that they like about that experience, about 30 percent of them end up joining the Army, either enlisting or going on to ROTC and then joining the officer population."
General Michael E. Ryan, then Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, testified that "almost 50 percent of the folks that go out of the Air Force Junior ROTC go into one of the Services by enlisting or going to ROTC or going to one of the academies."
Admiral Jay L. Johnson, then Chief of Naval Operations, testified that "Even if the number is only 30 percent, that is a good number. But think about what we get out of the other 70 percent. They have exposure to us. They have exposure to the military. And the challenge of the education mandate that we all share in principals and school counselors and school districts that won't let us in, that is a powerful tool I think to educate whether or not they end up in the service. So it is a long way around saying it is well worth the investment for lots of different reasons."

General Colin Powell said in his 1995 autobiography that "the armed forces might get a youngster more inclined to enlist as a result of Junior ROTC," but added that "Inner-city kids, many from broken homes, found stability and role models in Junior ROTC." U.S. Congress found in the Recruiting, Retention, and Reservist Promotion Act of 2000 that JROTC and similar programs "provide significant benefits for the Armed Forces, including significant public relations benefits." Former United States Secretary of Defense William Cohen referred to JROTC as "one of the best recruitment programs we could have."

Organization

Six of the eight branches of the Uniformed services of the United States maintain a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, organized into units. There are a total of 3,275 units:

1,600 Army AJROTC units
794 Air Force AFJROTC units
583 Navy NJROTC units
260 Marine Corps MCJROTC units
10 Space Force SFJROTC units
14 Coast Guard CGJROTC units

Prior to 1967 the number of units was limited to 1,200. The cap was increased to 1,600 units in 1967 and again to 3,500 units in 1992; the statutory limitation on the number of units was struck from the law in 2001. Their goal was to reach 3,500 units by February 2011 by encouraging program expansion into educationally and economically deprived areas.
Units are set up according to the layout of their parent service, often referred to as the "Chain of Command." Army JROTC units follow a company, battalion, and at larger events brigade structure. Marine Corps JROTC units follow the battalion, or in cases of larger size, brigade structure. Air Force JROTC units are composed structurally based on size. Individual if one, detail if 2, element if more than 2 and no more than 8, flight if 26, squadron if more than 51, group if more than 101, and wing if more than 251 cadets. Navy JROTC typically follows the company, battalion, or regiment structure depending on the size of the unit.

JROTC funding

JROTC is partly funded by the United States Department of Defense with an allocation in the military budget of about $340 million for the fiscal year 2007, of which about 68 million are personnel costs. The federal government subsidizes instructor salaries, cadet uniforms, equipment and textbooks. The instructors, usually retired military personnel, continue to receive retirement pay from the Federal government, but in addition, the schools pay the difference from what the instructors would receive if they were on active duty. The service concerned then reimburses the school for approximately one-half of the amount paid by the school to the instructor.

DoD Budget	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY2021
AJROTC	128,281	146,147	149,329	215,529
NJROTC	45,411	47,844	50,494	77,918
MCJROTC	17,423	16,996	17,740	35,012
AFJROTC	77,901	94,760	108,730	99,536
Total U.S. $1,000	269,016	305,747	323,293	427,995

Note: Space Force JROTC funding is included in Air Force JROTC.

Military staff and instructors

Although active duty officers may be assigned to JROTC, this is exceedingly rare, and is primarily limited to staff at the major command or sub-command headquarters overseeing each service's respective JROTC program or regional administrators overseeing a set number of individual units. Unlike the college/university ROTC program, which is an actual military officer training and accession track, the vast majority of NJROTC instructors are retired from the sponsoring branch of the Armed Forces. In the Army JROTC program, the cadet unit at each school is directed by at least one retired commissioned officer or a Warrant Officer who is designated as the Senior Army Instructor, and who is assisted by at least one retired Non-Commissioned Officer in the grade of Staff Sergeant through Command Sergeant Major who is designated as an Army Instructor. In certain situations, there may be additional instructors.
A new provision from the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 that was signed into law in October 2006 permits retired Reserve Component officers and noncommissioned officers to be hired as instructors.
There are no national requirements that JROTC instructors have the teaching credential required by other teachers in public high school, although there are a handful of counties that do require a teaching credential. In at least one jurisdiction, the government requires JROTC instructors to have at least four years of military experience and possess a high school diploma or equivalent. AJROTC instructors need to be within one year of retirement or retired from active military service for five or fewer years. MCJROTC instructors need to have graduated from high school, have at least 20 years of active military service and be physically qualified according to Marine Corps standards.
AFJROTC previously required a minimum of 20 years of active duty but has since been overridden by a provision in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, signed into law in October 2006, permitting retired Reserve Component to be hired as instructors. Officer instructors need to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree, while a high school diploma or equivalent is sufficient for enlisted instructors.
For AJROTC the Non-commissioned Officer has to attain an associate degree, with teaching credential, in order to be assigned an AI. To be assigned as a SAI the AJROTC Instructor has to hold a BA degree, with teaching credentials.
NJROTC also required a minimum of 20 years of active duty until it was overridden by a provision in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, signed into law in October 2006, permitting retired Reserve Component personnel to be hired as NJROTC instructors. The minimum education requirement for an enlisted Naval Science Instructor is a high school diploma or equivalent, with a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university required for a commissioned officer to serves as a Senior Naval Science Instructor. The Navy requires that JROTC instructors be employees of the school or school district and that they are accorded the same status as other school faculty members.