How does college ROTC work? Is enrolling in Army ROTC the same as joining the Army? Once a student starts taking ROTC courses, is he/she obligated to join the Army?

• Enrolling in Army ROTC is not, strictly speaking, joining the Army. You will not be sent to boot camp. However, the primary purpose of the Army ROTC program is to produce its Officers, so you must agree to serve as Officers in the Army after graduation in order to go through the entire program, or if you have received an ROTC scholarship. Enrolling in the ROTC Basic Course (the first two years of college) does NOT obligate you to serve unless you have also received a scholarship.

What kinds of scholarships are available in Army ROTC? Are any of the scholarships retroactive?

• Army ROTC offers two-, three- and four-year scholarships, which pay full tuition and fees, include a separate allowance for books, and a monthly stipend of up to $5,000 a year. Army ROTC scholarships are not retroactive.

What is my Army service obligation to pay back any scholarship benefits or for enrollment in the ROTC Advanced Course?

• Scholarship winners must serve for four years; non-scholarship Cadets who enroll in the ROTC Advanced Course (MSIII and MSIV years) must serve for three years. All who graduate and complete ROTC training are commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. There is no Army commitment for non-scholarship Cadets who enroll in the ROTC Basic Course (MSI and MSII years).

What good is Army ROTC for a career outside of the Army?

• Army ROTC is one of the only college programs that teaches leadership. This training is invaluable for any career that involves leading, managing and motivating people or fostering teamwork. Young Army Officers are typically responsible for hundreds of Soldiers and millions of dollars in equipment; this kind of management experience can be very attractive for post-Army employers.

Why should I choose Army ROTC over a different branch’s ROTC?

• The Army offers a wider range of career opportunities, in more places around the world, than any other U.S. military branch. Army ROTC prepares Cadets for success in both their military and civilian careers.

Through classes and field training, IU Army ROTC provides you with the tools to become an Army Officer without interfering with your other classes. ROTC also provides you with discipline and money for tuition while enhancing your college experience.

ROTC CLASSES

MSI Year

• During MSI year, college freshmen are introduced to the basics of Army leadership and personal development. This development begins at the individual level and includes domains such as physical fitness, customs and courtesies, basic tactical knowledge, and more. MIL-G 100 level classes are two credit hours. No Army commitment is required to attend MIL-G 100 level classes.

MSII Year

• During MSII year, sophomores expand upon their foundational understanding of Army leadership and begin to apply this knowledge to a changing operational environment. MIL-G 200 level classes are two credit hours. No Army commitment is required to attend MIL-G 200 level classes.

MSIII Year

• Most MSIIIs are academic juniors. Graduate students are also eligible to enroll in MSIII classes. As a MSIII, Cadets learn how to lead at the squad and platoon level while further cultivating their leadership skills. MIL-G 300 classes are three credit hours and prepare Cadets for Advanced Camp. MSIIIs attend Advanced Camp the summer between their junior and senior year.

MSIV Year

• MSIV Cadets lead the Battalion by planning and executing training, leadership labs, and mentoring younger Cadets. MIL-G 400 classes focus on the leadership skills necessary for success as an Army officer. MIL-G 400 classes are three credit hours. Upon completion of the course and graduation, MSIVs are commissioned into the United States Army as Second Lieutenants.

ROTC TRAINING

Basic Camp

• Basic Camp is an accelerated leadership development course hosted at Fort Knox, KY for four weeks each summer. The course supplements the first two years of ROTC academic training. Graduates of the course are eligible for MSIII enrollment. Basic Camp is not required for Cadets who complete the MSI and MSII academic years.

Advanced Camp

• Advanced Camp is the capstone event in ROTC and is designed to assess a Cadet’s ability to demonstrate proficiency in basic officer leadership tasks. Cadets are evaluated on their ability to lead at the Squad and Platoon levels in garrison and tactical environments. This field training exercise replicates a combat training center rotation. Successful completion of the Advanced Camp is a prerequisite for commissioning.

Infantry

• The Infantry encompasses positions concerned with the employment of the combined arms to close with the enemy by means of fire and maneuver in order to destroy or capture enemy forces, or repel enemy assault by fire, close combat, and counterattack. Infantry forces fight dismounted or mounted according to the mobility means provided.

Air Defense Artillery

• Air Defense Artillery encompasses positions concerned with the employment of a family of Air Defense Artillery weapons in support of military land combat operations and against enemy aircraft and missile attacks. Depending upon the mission, Air Defense Artillery units are found defending the ground-gaining combat arms units or critical units/areas against enemy air attack. When not in combat, Air Defense Artillery units maintain an around-the-clock state of readiness to respond immediately to hostile action.

Armor

• The Armor branch is concerned with the employment of the Armor/Cavalry maneuver forces and combined arms organizations during mobile combat operations. The mission of the armor branch is to destroy the enemy using fire, maneuver, and shock action. The dynamism that distinguished the cavalry of yesteryear is now the hallmark of the Armor, the Combat Arm of Decision. Armor Officers command the World’s Best Main Battle Tank, The M1A1 Abrams!

Aviation

• Aviation is a combat arms branch that encompasses 80 percent of the commissioned officer operational flying positions within the Army. Army Aviation is concerned with the accomplishment of the assigned mission to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations.

Engineers

• The Corps of Engineers is a combat arms branch which also has combat support and combat service support roles. Engineer officers plan and execute missions relating to engineer support on the battlefield in light, heavy, airborne, and topographic missions. They coordinate and control all facilities and housing support at military installations. Additionally, the engineer officer serves as the Army’s component to the Department of Defense (DOD) team charged with mapping, charting, geodesy, and military geographic responsibilities.

Field Artillery

• The Field Artillery is the King of Battle. They are sound leaders of soldiers as well as astute managers of the most deadly resources on the modern battlefield. They blend a knowledge of tactics and a technical expertise of various weapons systems to provide fire support in complex operational environments. They are experts in the capabilities of cannons, rockets, missiles, naval gunfire, and close air support.

Chemical Corps

• The Chemical Corps encompasses functions primarily oriented toward operations, training, scientific development, and acquisition activities in support of nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) defense program. The Chemical Corps provides the Army with a highly trained corps of NBC defense and operational experts.

Signal

• Signal Corps officers blend combat leadership skills and technical proficiency as they plan and manage information systems that support the command and control of the Army’s forces. Signal officer assignments and career opportunities are diverse and challenging. They direct and control the installation, operations, maintenance, and reconfiguration of networks of information systems for theater/tactical, strategic, and sustaining base operations and the operation of global defense communications systems.

Military Intelligence

• Military Intelligence encompasses the application and integration of all Military Intelligence functions at both the tactical and strategic levels. Officers serving in this specialty plan, conduct, and supervise intelligence collection resources, analysis of the resultant raw intelligence information, and the production and dissemination of finished all-source intelligence in the form of briefings and written reports to the ultimate consumer, the commander.

Military Police

• The Military Police Corps encompasses positions concerned with Military Police (MP) support to combat operations, law enforcement, and security of U.S. Government resources, criminal investigation, and corrections. The combat support role provides a vital link in our national defense, and the MPs provide the tactical commander with a force that is highly organized, trained, and responsive to the battlefield commander. Military Police also serve as peacekeeping forces in a low-intensity conflict and provide security in war and peace to critical Army facilities and resources.

Adjutant General

• Adjutant General’s Corps – Officers in the Adjutant General’s Corps serve at all organization levels of the Army where they plan, develop, and operate the Army’s personnel management support systems: a vital responsibility in both peace and war. Personnel systems include all life cycle functions such as personnel requisitioning, reassignments, evaluations, promotions, awards and decorations, reenlistment, casualty reporting, strength accounting, and replacement operations.

Finance Corps

• All officers commissioned in the Finance Corps (FI) serve in a variety of financial management and leadership positions in today’s Army. The ultimate mission of the FI is to support the soldiers and commanders in the field and provide the Army with expertise concerning all aspects of financial management. Finance officers are required to be both technically and tactically proficient to perform their mission in wartime as well as peacetime. They must continuously develop their professional skills and knowledge in order to stay abreast of evolving doctrine and stay current in the finance and accounting profession.

Ordinance Corps

• The purpose of the Ordnance Corps is to develop, produce, acquire, and support weapons systems, ammunition, missiles and ground mobility material during peace and war in order to provide combat power for the U.S. Army. The Ordnance Branch encompasses all functions related to the life cycle management of its three commodities: tank/automotive materiel, munitions materiel, and missile materiel.

Quartermaster Corps

• The Quartermaster Corps offers a broad spectrum of opportunities. The Quartermaster Corps officer plans and directs the activities of Army units and organizations engaged in the acquisition, receipt, storage, preservation, and issue of equipment, repair parts, fortification/construction material, subsistence, petroleum products, water, and other general supplies.

Transportation

Transportation Corps encompasses those positions related to the multi-modal movement of personnel and cargo over land, sea, and air.

Judge Advocate General’s Corps

• The Judge Advocate General’s Corps is a special branch of the Army whose officers are all lawyers. Their duties include all areas of legal practice including criminal law, administrative and civil law, contract law, and international law.

Chaplain Corps

• The Chaplains Branch is a special branch with the primary mission to perform or provide for comprehensive religious support for soldiers and their family members in war and peace. Chaplains assist commanders in facilitating the right to free exercise of religion for all personnel. Chaplains are commissioned officers and accredited clergy endorsed by a recognized denomination or faith group for the military ministry.

Medical Service Corps

• The Medical Service Corps is a special branch of the Army and is one of the branches of the Army Medical Department. Officers of this branch provide administrative, operational, logistical, technical, and scientific support for the Army Medical Department in the accomplishment of its mission ” to conserve the fighting strength.”

Nurse Corps

• The Army Nurse Corps is a part of the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) and is a special branch of the Army. The mission of the Army Nurse Corps is to provide quality nursing support and nursing leadership. To fulfill its mission, the Army Nurse Corps officers specialize as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists and serve as staff officers at all levels throughout the AMEDD.  Army ROTC has a program specially designed for Nursing Cadets that augments the curriculum of a standard nursing program.