Reserve Officers Training Corps

Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) is a programme that provides college-trained officers for active duty branches of the US military services and for the reserve components. It offers military science courses at American private and state colleges and universities.

ROTC is more than a college programme. It is a tradition dating back over 175 years. The first civilian institution of higher learning in the USA to actually incorporate military education into its curriculum was the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy—now Norwich University in Vermont. Capt Alden Partridge, former superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, founded the school in 1819 at Norwich. Modern ROTC traces its heritage back to this institution, which became the prototype for all ROTC training. ROTC was formally established by the US National Defense Act of 1916.

ROTC programmes exist to commission college-educated officers into the army, air force, navy, and Marine Corps in sufficient numbers to meet the requirements of these services. In fact, it is the single largest source of officers for the US Armed Forces today. ROTC's objectives are to provide an understanding of the principles of military, aerospace, and naval science; to develop comprehension of associated professional knowledge; to build attitudes of integrity, honour, and individual responsibility; and to encourage appreciation of national security. College students earn college credit for ROTC courses. ROTC is an elective course of study, taken in conjunction with any academic major that, upon graduation, leads to a reserve commission as a second lieutenant in the army, air force, or Marine Corps or an ensign in the navy.

The ROTC programme consists of two parts: the Basic Course and Advanced Course. The Basic Course is usually taken in the first two years of college and requires no military obligation by the student unless the military has provided the student a scholarship. Scholarship students receive tuition fees, books, uniforms, and a stipend. The Advanced Course is designed for leadership development, organization and management, tactics, ethics, and professionalism. There is a requirement for a summer camp of six weeks between the junior and senior year of college conducted at a military post, camp, or station. Those enrolled in the Advanced Course receive $150 per month for subsistence, and their uniforms and military textbooks are also furnished. Once the Advanced Course is completed and a college degree obtained, the student is commissioned as an officer and required to serve a period on active duty or in one of the reserve components.

The army and air force also offer a Junior ROTC-level programme, which teaches self-reliance, self-discipline, and citizenship training in US high schools.

Bibliography

• Crocker, Lawrence P., Army Officer's Guide (47th edn., Harrisburg, Pa., 1996)

— Danny M. Johnson

Established as one of three components of the U.S. Army, the Organized Reserves (Enlisted and Officers' Reserve Corps), by the National Defense Act of 1920 (which amended the National Defense Act of 1916). By 1928 there were ROTC units at 325 colleges and universities that offered a four-year course of instruction in military science. When many colleges and universities began to abolish compulsory ROTC, Congress passed the ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964 in order to increase program productivity. The Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NROTC) was established in 1926 in order to provide a broad base of civilians trained in naval warfare. The Marine Corps entered the NROTC program in 1932, offering NROTC graduates commissions in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps, like Army ROTC, was established by the National Defense Act of 1916, and is responsible for training approximately 75 percent of Air Force line officers. In 1997, a new organization—Air Force Officer Accessions and Training Schools (AFOATS)—was created under Air University, and HC AFROTC became a subordinate unit.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). The Morrill Act of 1862 required land grant colleges to provide military training for male students. As World War I raged in Europe, the National Defense Act of 1916 provided for the establishment of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). Fully trained graduates received commissions in an Officers' Reserve Corps that would become available for active duty in a major war.

Between World War I and World War II, the army gave even stronger support than before to military training on college campuses. The navy began similar training in 1925. Some opposition to college military training arose, but it had no real effect on reserve officer production.

After 1945 the air force joined the army and navy in reviving campus military training. During the Cold War the substantial and seemingly permanent enlargement of the American military establishment changed the primary objective of college military training from reserve to active duty service. Then, from 1961 through the decade of conflict in Southeast Asia, the armed forces called almost all college military graduates to active duty, and only the cessation of American ground action promised a partial return to the reserve concept.

The unpopularity of the prolonged Vietnam War led to widespread and sometimes violent opposition to military training on civilian campuses. Even before the truce of January 1973, enrollments had dropped by two-thirds, but more schools than ever, about 375, had military units. All three services had adopted the navy's method of providing scholarships and other inducements designed to assure a steady supply of college graduates for active duty despite reduced enrollments.

Bibliography

Franke, Volker. Preparing for Peace: Military Identity, Value Orientations, and Professional Military Education. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1999.

Neiberg, Michael S. Making Citizen-Soldiers: ROTC and the Ideology of American Military Service. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a training program to prepare college students to be commissioned officers
  Synonym: ROTC