Once you decide to join ROTC it is important to note that
not all programs are created equally. Sure, the officers and NCOs go to the
same conferences. The PowerPoint slides are the same at each school, as they
come from Cadet Command. Even the template for the number of military personal
allotted in each program is similar for schools of comparable size. However,
there are intangible considerations that can determine whether you come out
receiving average training from a ho-hum program, or if you are truly prepared
to excel at the Leadership Development and Assessment and Course (LDAC) and
become a leader within the United States Army.
There are several subjective ways to analyze a programs
worth, such as the likability of the instructors, what your peers say, and
whether they follow certain rules regarding when the uniform is worn or how
often physical training is conducted. However, I intend to stick with objective
measurements that can be more easily compared between programs and hold
universally true regardless of who is doing the comparing.
What to look for:
- The assets available near campus exclusively for ROTC
training. This could include the number and quality of obstacles for the Field
Leadership Reaction Course, having a rappel tower, and available land to
conduct situational training exercises. The more obstacles for FLRC, the more
times you will get to practice your leadership skills and learn the tricks to
make you more efficient at triumphing over each challenge. Similarly, having
actual wooded land to conduct missions is much more beneficial than pretending
to be on a recon while walking across the flat grass of campus wearing all your
equipment and being gawked at by peers.
If you don’t expect a sports team to be any good without proper training
equipment, you really can’t expect anything different of training a future
warrior.
- The number of cadets who received Excellence ratings at
LDAC each of the previous 2-3 years. Ideally about 20% of each commissioning
class from each school should have received the top rating. This tells you that
the school is teaching relevant information and is taking time to correct
mistakes and encourage improvement.
-The number of Distinguished Military Graduates (ranking
within the top 20% in the nation). This is based not only on cadet rankings at
LDAC, but also everything else on the national Order of Merit List such as
performance on the Army Physical Fitness Test, FLRC, grades, and several other
categories. Having a number of DMG cadets shows that the program encourages
well-roundedness.
-The percentage of cadets who receive their first choice of
military branch. That is, this is the percent of each class that gets the Army
job they wanted. After all, nobody wants to spend four years doing something
they know they’ll hate. It’s important to know if your program is helping its
cadets earn the slots that will make them happy and feel fulfilled.
-The school’s placement at Ranger Challenge competitions,
the number of extracurricular clubs ran by cadets, etc. If your school’ ROTC
program performs well at competitions you can bet the cadets are not only physically
fit. It shows they are driven, dedicated, and disciplined. They are also very
likely to be tight-knit. Being around people who enjoy doing well will make you
better. They are the people with pride in their performance and the good sense
to know that you must earn every accolade. Similarly, morale is likely very
high if the cadets are going out of their way to lead new organizations.
This list is not all-inclusive, however it will give you a
good barometer of what your potential program is like. And, if it comes down to
two schools whose assets are too similar to determine which is better, you can
always go back to your subjective observations and ask yourself which cadre
you’d prefer to see teach class every other day.
