Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches of the U.S. military, the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Space Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard do not have their own respective ROTC programs; rather, graduates of Naval ROTC programs have the option to serve as officers in the Marine Corps contingent on meeting Marine Corps requirements. Graduates of Air Force ROTC also have the option to be commissioned in the Space Force as a Space Operations Officer. Although the Coast Guard does not operate an ROTC program, the Coast Guard Auxiliary University Programs provides students with training and opportunities to participate in Coast Guard activities, however, participation in the AUP does not guarantee a commission.
In 2020, ROTC graduates constituted 70 percent of newly commissioned active-duty U.S. Army officers, 83 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Marine Corps officers, 61 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Navy officers and 63 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Air Force officers, for a combined 56 percent of all active-duty officers in the Department of Defense commissioned that year. Under ROTC, a student may receive a competitive, merit-based scholarship covering all or part of college tuition, textbooks and lab fees, in return for an active-duty service obligation after graduation. ROTC students attend college like other students, but also receive basic military training and officer training for their chosen branch of service through the ROTC unit at or nearby the college. The students participate in regular drills during the school year and off-campus training opportunities during the summer.
Army ROTC units are organized as brigades, battalions and companies. Air Force ROTC units are detachments with the students organized into wings, groups, squadrons and flights. Army and Air Force ROTC students are referred to as cadets. Naval ROTC units are organized as battalions and also include NROTC students under "Marine Option" who will eventually be commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps. Marine NROTC students may be formed in a separate company when the program includes sufficient numbers. All Naval ROTC students are referred to as midshipmen. Some of the summer training that is offered to cadets in the Army ROTC program are: Airborne, Air Assault, Mountain Warfare, WHINSEC and other related schools. In addition to their mandatory 20 day Field Training at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, typically between their sophomore and junior year. Air Force ROTC cadets are also eligible for Airborne training under the tutelage of the Army at Fort Benning, Georgia. Naval ROTC midshipmen will participate in summer cruise programs every summer, either afloat or ashore, similar to their U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen counterparts.
History
Concept
The concept of training reserve military officers in civilian colleges and universities in United States was created by the founder of Norwich University, Alden Partridge, who was a former United States Military Academy instructor. Partridge, who founded Norwich in Vermont in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy," promoted the idea of "citizen soldiers," men trained to act in a military capacity when their nation required but capable of fulfilling standard civilian functions in peacetime. The Morrill Act of 1862 established land-grant colleges. Part of the federal government's requirement for these schools was that they include military tactics as part of their curriculum. Another root of the modern ROTC program comes from the "Plattsburg Idea". In 1915, Major General Leonard Wood instituted the Citizen's Military Training Camps, the first series of training camps to make officers out of civilians. For the first time in history, an attempt was made to provide a condensed course of training and commissioning competent reserve line officers after only a summer of military training.Formal establishment and World War I
In 1916, the provision to formally establish ROTC was advocated to Congress by a delegation from Ohio including William Oxley Thompson, President of the Ohio State University. On February 7, 1916, Ralph D. Mershon, a graduate of Ohio State, testified before the committee as a professional engineer. Present to testify as an advocate of a Reserve Engineers Corps, he expanded his remarks to argue in favor of the "Ohio Plan". Mershon noted:Congress agreed, and the ROTC provision was included in the final version of the National Defense Act of 1916. The first ROTC unit was at Harvard in 1916.
Over 5,000 men arrived at Plattsburgh, New York, in May 1917 for the first of the officer training camps. By the end of 1917, over 17,000 men had been trained. By the eve of its entry into World War I, the U.S. had a prepared corps of officers including one of the earliest Plattsburgh graduates, Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Interwar period
Senior division and the Organized Reserve
Beginning in 1919, many of the ROTC programs established during World War I resumed enrollments, and many new programs were organized. The National Defense Act of 1920 continued ROTC, and by the end of 1921, about 180 senior division programs were active at civilian and military colleges and universities. The branches of ROTC units offered at each college or university was based upon the kind of Organized Reserve units organized in the vicinity by the War Department; the actual organization of each type of ROTC unit attempted to conform to standard tables of organization of each branch unit. Most schools offered only one program, usually infantry, although some of the larger institutions or military colleges offered multiple branches that a cadet could consider. Only six Air Corps programs were ever established; they produced few graduates, and all were eliminated in 1936 and replaced with less expensive units, mostly infantry, at other schools. By 1928, ROTC units were commissioning 6,000 Organized Reserve second lieutenants per year. In 1935, funding for all medical ROTC programs was cut by Congress as a cost-saving measure, but they were restored the following year, when another seventeen programs of various branches were established or reestablished, giving ROTC a presence in all 48 states, Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii, including programs at four historically black colleges or universities.The first two years of the course consisted of basic knowledge and skills common to all soldiers, while the advanced course consisted of branch-specific knowledge. In many schools, primarily land-grant and military colleges and universities, all four years were mandatory for male students. In some schools, only the first two years were mandatory. Even if a student completed all four years, he was not required to take a commission, nor did completion of the four-year program guarantee it. Cadets pursuing a commission typically attended a summer camp after their junior or senior year. Cadets from a given school would attend en masse at a Regular Army installation and go through training conducted by a unit of the same branch as that of the ROTC unit. Most often, units of the same branch from several different schools would attend at the same time. The camps lasted four weeks and served as a training, orientation, and leadership evaluation opportunity for the cadets. Once a cadet completed the four-year course and the summer camp, he was offered a commission as a second lieutenant if the school's Professor of Military Science and Tactics considered the young man of sufficient character and ability to serve as an officer in the Army of the United States.
Before the mid-1920s, new Reserve second lieutenants were assigned to Organized Reserve units of their branch located in the vicinity of their residences; this resulted in both formal and informal "feeder" relationships between schools and units located in their vicinities. In 1926-1927, the War Department also authorized Reserve officers to be assigned to "Regular Army Inactive" units. A formal affiliation program between many RAI units, including nearly all of the infantry regiments, and nearby schools was initiated. Typically, in the case of a regiment, the school's Professor of Military Science and Tactics or the senior Regular Army officer assigned to the ROTC program was designated the regimental commander, with other Regular Army instructors assigned key positions within the regiment. However, the RAI affiliation program proved taxing for Regular Army officers who had to devote their attention to both the program and their assigned unit; by 1933, command of all RAI units was turned over to Reserve officers.
Junior division
During the 1930s, there were junior ROTC programs in some larger city high schools, such as in Memphis, Tennessee, Charlotte, North Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri, and New Orleans, Louisiana.World War II
The extent of the U.S. Army's mobilization before its involvement in World War II—“a state neither of war nor of peace"—disrupted the Organized Reserve. Beginning in mid-1940, large numbers of Reserve officers began to be called to active duty individually and assigned to expanding Regular Army units, and to National Guard units after the mobilization of that component was authorized in August. On 30 June 1940, 2,710 Reserve officers were on active duty, but by 15 May 1941, the number was over 46,000, and by 30 June, 57,309. The need for young, qualified company-grade officers was acute, and by mid-1941, 75 to 90 percent of the officers in Regular Army units and 10 percent in National Guard units were Reserve officers. By December 1941, 80,000 Reserve officers were on active duty. By the end of 1942, 140,000 officers holding Reserve commissions through various paths were on active duty, but by that date, 12,100 who had been previously commissioned "had not received such orders," mainly for reasons like being over-age in grade, found medically disqualified for active service, deferred due to academics or civilian employment, or lack of vacancies.On 6 February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9049, which ordered "into the active military service of the United States...for the duration of the present war and for six months after the termination thereof...each of the organizations and units and all of the personnel of the Organized Reserve not already in such service;" because most Reserve officers were already on active duty, this amounted to a “public relations” document. Because of the course of the mobilization of 1940–1941, "few of the Reserve officers originally assigned to...units were available for duty with them. Consequently, the units as activated bore small resemblance to those of peacetime."
The advanced ROTC program was suspended in its entirety in the spring of 1943 in concert with the institution of the Army Specialized Training Program, and no new contracts were issued for the duration of the war. The basic ROTC curriculum was kept intact as part of the military indoctrination for the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program for 17 year olds. At this time, several major categories of ROTC students existed:
- Members of the normal college class of 1942, who had completed a full four-year program plus the summer camp.
- Members of the normal college class of 1943 who had chosen to accelerate their studies via summer sessions offered in 1942 that gave a full semester or quarter of credit. These men graduated with a completed advanced course minus the summer camp at the end of 1942 if on the semester calendar, or in the early spring of 1943 if on the quarter calendar. These men, along with the members of the normal class of 1943, then went directly to officer candidate schools.
- Members of the normal college class of 1944 who had taken the 1942 summer session. These men graduated in the fall of 1943 with a partially complete advanced course. These men also went directly to officer-candidate schools, although some men attending institutions on the quarter calendar were allowed to remain in school through the summer quarter to ease congestion in officer-candidate schools.
- Members of the normal college class of 1945 who had taken the 1942 summer session, called "ROTC juniors." If their institution was on the semester calendar, they were due to begin advanced ROTC in the spring semester of 1943. They, along with the remaining members of the normal class of 1944, were sent to basic training after the spring semester ended.
Image:Cornell University Announcements Officer Education 1973 74.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cornell University's ROTC program announcement, 1973–74