"Army ROTC is a program that provides college-trained officers for the active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. This program offers military science courses at more than 300 host colleges and universities. It's offered at more than 500 other colleges that have cross-enrollment agreements with ROTC host schools.
Army ROTC is traditionally a four-year program which is divided into two parts: a Basic Course
and an Advanced Course. The Basic Course is normally taken in your freshman and sophomore
years. The Advanced Course is usually taken during your final two years of college and includes a
five-week Advanced Camp that is normally attended in the summer between your junior and senior
years.
Your military experience could fulfill your credit requirements for the ROTC Basic Course. This
means that if credit is granted, and you are not on an Army ROTC three-year scholarship, you can
skip the freshman and sophomore years of ROTC and enroll directly in the Advanced Course.
In the ROTC Advanced Course you will learn leadership development, organization and
management, tactics, and ethics and professionalism, qualities essential to a future Army officer.
Your instruction will go beyond the classroom to help you gain practical management and leadership
experience.
At Advanced Camp, you'll put into practice the principles, theories and decision-making skills you
learned in the classroom. You'll plan and execute tactical missions, and you'll shoulder a lot of
responsibility as you are given the opportunity to serve in leadership positions. At the end of five
weeks, you'll leave Advanced Camp with renewed pride and increased confidence in your ability to
serve as a leader in the officer corps.
You may be eligible to compete for an ROTC scholarship while you're in college. The scholarship
pays for most tuition and on-campus educational fees which are required of all students, and
provides a fixed amount for books, supplies, and equipment. It also provides an allowance of up to
$1,500 for each year the scholarship is in effect. Even if you don't win a scholarship, you will still
receive the allowance for each year of the Advanced Course, along with your uniforms and military
science textbooks and materials. Plus, all cadets are paid for attending the five-week Advanced
Camp. And, if eligible, you may also collect any VA benefits to which you would normally be
entitled.
To be awarded an ROTC scholarship, you must be under 27 years of age on June 30th of the year
you expect to graduate and receive your officer's commission. However, as a veteran, you may
receive up to three years' extension for your past military service.
If you do not win an ROTC scholarship, you must be younger than 30 years of age at the time you
are commissioned. Requests for a waiver of age may be considered on an individual basis.
You may be able to take advantage of a program that allows you to participate in ROTC and enlist
in the Army National Guard or Army Reserve at the same time, provided a vacancy exists in either a
Guard or Reserve unit. It's called the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP), and it means that
while you're still in college you can be gaining valuable experience and earning extra income. Under
the SMP, you will be paid at the rate of at least a Sergeant (E-5) for your Guard or Reserve service,
and you'll receive the ROTC Advanced Course allowance as well.
You'll serve as an officer trainee in a Guard or Reserve unit and perform duties commensurate with
the grade of second lieutenant. And once you are graduated and commissioned, you may continue
your military service with your unit or apply for active duty in the U.S. Army.
Following graduation, ROTC cadets are required to serve in the active Army, Army National Guard
or Army Reserve.
All scholarship students will be required to serve in the military for a period of eight years. This
obligation may be fulfilled by serving two to four years on active duty, followed by four to six years'
service as citizen soldiers in the Army National Guard (ARNG) or U.S. Army Reserve (USAR), or
by serving eight years in the ARNG or USAR preceded by a period necessary to complete the
active component resident officer basic course (OBC).
Nonscholarship graduates may serve three years on active duty and five years as citizen soldiers, or
they may select or be selected to fulfill their total military obligation as citizen soldiers. If Reserve
Forces Duty is selected, graduates will serve a period of active duty necessary to complete the
active component resident OBC, and spend the remainder of the eight-year obligation in the ARNG
or USAR."
Army ROTC is a good deal for anybody. You'll receive an officer's commission and, when you return to active duty, your previous active duty enlisted time will even count toward both longevity pay and retirement.
Are you interested? You may call the WIU's ROTC at (309) 298-1161 or select a college that offers the program and contact the Professor of Military Science for more information.
WIUs LAW ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION
ROTC CREDIT FOR MILITARY SERVICE
LEARNING TO BE A LEADER
PRACTICING WHAT YOU LEARN
FINANCIAL HELP DURING COLLEGE
YOUR AGE AT COMMISSIONING
JOIN ROTC AND THE GUARD OR RESERVE WHILE
YOU'RE IN COLLEGE
MILITARY SERVICE OBLIGATION
FIND OUT MORE!
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