Welcome to my Blog!

Alright, so now that the gist of what my book is about has made it to the blog, I guess I will share a bit more about myself.

Aside from the information in the section about me, I think it's pertinent for you to know I will be deploying at the end of February and am not sure how often I will be able to access the internet/this blog once in Afghanistan. However, if you have any questions at all I am more than happy to answer them as soon as I get the opportunity.

I am assuming that if you are reading this you are curious about ROTC and probably have a bunch of questions regarding what to expect and how to do well as a cadet. If so, then great! My book addresses those issues and offers so much more. I will try to post something on here at least every few weeks to give context to what your ROTC experience will be like, what worked for me, maybe a few embarrassing cadet stories, a few contrasts I have noticed between ROTC and being an active duty 82D Airborne Division paratrooper (i.e. the differences between "Cadetland" and "Real Army"), and offer more information on nutrition and fitness not included in the book.

So I suppose a good starting point would be to explain why I wrote this book. In short, it's because prior to The Ultimate ROTC Guidebook no book was written on the topic. I know that as a cadet I wanted to know what to expect and how to do well at it. Finally, beginning in my senior year I decided to take information gathered from the cadre, other cadets, personal experience, and After Action Reviews (AAR) and make a document that would allow future cadets to skip past my mistakes and move the entire ROTC program one step closer to constant progress (the book being a kind of Before Action Review), as opposed to the decades-old routine of try, make mistakes, adjust, try again with every cadet in every class making the same mistakes every year. My ultimate goal is that this book will help ROTC programs as a whole advance at a quicker rate, allowing courses to focus more on the details of being a good leader.

I would like to note that ROTC is an ever-changing organization and therefore some minor details change every year. However, I made a conscious effort to ensure the book sticks to the principles that will make it relevant for many, many years to come. I do not claim to be the best cadet ever, nor am I an expert in all matters. I am qualified based on my performance, degree, and certifications to offer a range of information that will help you excel as a cadet, though, and will do my best to answer every question you may have.

Airborne!