JROTC HISTORY
The JROTC program is a high school program of instruction designed to teach citizenship and leadership, while instilling self-esteem, teamwork, and self-discipline. Established by Congress in 1916, the JROTC program was originally an Army program. However, since 1964 under the JROTC Vitalization Act, it has been offered by all services and is taught at high schools nationwide. In 1974, it was made available to females. The program has evolved over the ensuing years, and was most recently modified by Congress in the Fiscal Year 1993 Defense Authorization Act to increase eligibility for an expanded program. The JROTC program, for DOD as a whole was expanded from 1,600 to 3,500 units. Of the 3,500 units, the Army JROTC program portion is 1645 units of which 1370 schools are possible within current funding constraints. As part of the expansion and in order to establish new units in educationally or economically deprived areas, U.S. Cadet Command was given authorization to pay more than the normal 50 percent reimbursement for instructor salaries. Since 1993, 189 schools have temporarily received additional funding for instructor salaries from the Army thereby giving disadvantaged youth in educationally or economically deprived areas the opportunity to participate in the JROTC program.
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