What is ROTC?

A Brief History

The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) as it exists today, began with the signing of the National Defense Act of 1916, on June 3 of that year by President Woodrow Wilson.

Military training had been taking place at civilian colleges and universities as early as 1819 but the signing of the National Defense Act brought this training under a single, Federally-controlled entity -- the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) -- for the first time.

Army ROTC is the American military's largest officer generating organization, having commissioned more than a half-million second lieutenants. The first group, 133, received their commissions during school year 1919-20. In school year 1969-70 more than 16,500 second lieutenants received their gold bars through Army ROTC -- the largest commissioning cohort ever.

Army ROTC is not a college major; rather it is a series of elective courses taken in conjunction with a student's progress toward the baccalaureate degree. Army ROTC commissionees generally take Army ROTC instruction for four years, plus a six-week summer camp. A student must be enrolled in college full-time for not less than two years to earn a commission.

Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of Staff, earned his commission through ROTC at the City University of New York. Gens. George Decker (Lafayette College), Fred Weyand (University of California-Berkeley), and General Gordon Sullivan (Norwich University) are former Army chiefs of staff who received commissions through Army ROTC. General of the Army George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff during World War II, is a graduate of a school (Virginia Military Institute), which is part of the ROTC program. He was graduated and commissioned prior to the signing of the National Defense Act of 1916.

All ROTC activities, to include citizenship training offered through Junior ROTC at more than 1350 high schools in all parts of the country, are commanded by U.S. Army Cadet Command with Headquarters at Fort Monroe, VA.

-Excerpt from The Princeton Review