.svg)
![[ROTC Town Hall]: Will Prasifka discusses discrimination at Columbia](http://web.archive.org./web/20110723115547im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9lEp0J1IMGQ/0.jpg "[ROTC Town Hall]: Will Prasifka discusses discrimination at Columbia")
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.
The U.S. Armed Forces and a number of other national militaries, particularly those countries with strong historical ties to the United States, have ROTC programs. The Republic of the Philippines established its program in 1912, with the creation of the first unit at the University of the Philippines during American colonial rule. ROTC in the Republic of Korea started in 1963.
ROTC produces officers in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces except the U.S. Coast Guard. ROTC graduates constitute 56 percent of U.S. Army, 11 percent of U.S. Marine Corps, 20 percent of U.S. Navy, and 41 percent of U.S. Air Force officers, for a combined 39 percent of all active duty officers in the Department of Defense. The Philippine-based National ROTC Alumni Association (NRAA) estimates that 75 percent of the officer corps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines come from ROTC.
With the exception of the U.S. Coast Guard, each of the U.S. Armed Forces offer competitive, merit-based scholarships to ROTC students, often covering full tuition for college in exchange for extended periods of active military service. For example, in the U.S. Army ROTC, students who receive an Army ROTC scholarship must agree to complete a four year period of service with the Army after college. U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force ROTC students are referred to as cadets, while U.S. Naval ROTC students are known as midshipmen; these terms coincide with their service academy counterparts. The Naval ROTC program commissions both U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps officers. The U.S. Coast Guard sponsors only a JROTC program.
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, like the active Air Force. Naval ROTC units are organized into Naval battalions. If the Marine students are integrated with the Navy students, there are companies; but having the Navy students in departments and divisions like a ship, and the Marines in a separate company is only done when an ROTC unit has sufficient members to warrant an extra division.
The concept of ROTC in the United States began with the Morrill Act of 1862 which established the land-grant colleges. Part of the federal government's requirement for these schools was that they include military tactics as part of their curriculum, forming what became known as ROTC. The college from which ROTC originated is Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. Norwich was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy.
Until the 1960s, many major universities required compulsory ROTC for all of their male students. However, because of the protests that culminated in the opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, compulsory ROTC was dropped in favor of voluntary programs. In some places ROTC was expelled from campus altogether, although it was always possible to participate in off-campus ROTC.
In recent years, concerted efforts are being made at some Ivy League universities that have previously banned ROTC, including Harvard and Columbia, to return ROTC to campus. In the 21st century, the debate often focuses around the Congressional don't ask, don't tell law, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993, which forbids homosexuals serving in the United States military from disclosing their sexual orientation at the risk of expulsion. Some schools believe this legal mandate would require them to waive or amend their non-discrimination policies. The Supreme Court ruled in March 2006 that they are entitled to hold this opinion, but at the expense of federal funding (see Solomon Amendment).
Under current law, there are three types of ROTC programs administered, each with a different element. from a parking garage|thumb|right]]
One difference between civilian colleges and the senior or junior military colleges is enrollment option in ROTC. ROTC is voluntary for students attending civilian colleges and universities; however, with few exceptions (as outlined in both Army regulations and federal law), it is required of students attending the senior and junior military colleges. Another major difference between the senior military colleges and civilian colleges is that under federal law, graduates of the SMCs are guaranteed active duty assignments if requested.
ROTC, being part of the military, implemented the Don't ask don't tell policy. LGBT students often protested not being allowed in ROTC. An Act to repeal the policy was signed by the President on December 22, 2010, but implementation is expected to take up to a year and in the meantime the policy applies.
Category:Military education and training in the United States
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
