Short answer, YES they owe.
However, that doesn't mean they can't call the ball at summer training and say I am out of here.
Additionally, remember, some cadets only contract as a C200, that means they received the funds for 1 yr...which could be about 20K if you include their stipend.
Honestly, I don't get it, but I am glad as a military parent that they did it. I don' want someone who bails out of summer training because they couldn't hack it to go to combat with my child.
I find it insane that mentally they could not get the mind set, NOBODY DIES at summer training. Yes, it is difficult, but if you walk in and say, life sucks for the next 6 weeks, but after 6 weeks I will still be alive than you can make it. Summer training is nothing compared to SERES.
Honestly, the military is better off without them, the sad part is this yr was a low selection rate, and a cadet who could have made it through now has a missing square/box filled because they didn't go, while this person dropped.
Several other cadets also failed the PFA and were released. This summer was incredibly hot. Cadets took their PFA with a 118 degree heat index. 120 is Black flag.
For AFROTC cadets, summer training is held at Maxwell AFB in Alabama...August weather there is not pretty due to heat and humidity!
DS ran every other day in NoVA all summer long (90 degree heat). He was able to do a 11:00 1 1/2 mile run. He did the whole PFA according to the AF. In Alabama it dropped by 2 minutes because sucking in hot humid air is not easy.
He even stated that as they stood in formation at the end of the day it took everything in their will power to ignore the sweat coming down their face or the feeling of the ABU gluing itself to their body.
Our DS gave the best description I ever heard regarding summer training...
It is the best vacation that I never want to take again
Off topic...my proudest moment in his AFROTC career was he got his prop wings. As a child of an AF military member he could have received gold. He took silver. To him, this is his career, he loves and respects his Dad, but he earned these wings on his own and I admire the fact that he opted for silver based on his performance. He's right IMHO the prop is more important than the metal color it is made of. Getting a gold prop plays homage to the cadets legacy, but has no importance in their ability. He earned the prop by himself, his father had nothing to do with that factor.
Like I said, that was my proudest moment, even if I wasn't there, because he washed away all of our fears that he was doing this for the wrong reasons(dad), he proved to us that this was about him, and him alone. In one swift move he just said I am ME, I am here for my own personal reasons and I will succeed/fail on my own two feet. My AF is career has nothing to do with my folks or legacy, it is all about me and what I do, thus I will wear silver.
That is when you know they transitioned from a college ROTC student to a future officer that is a college student.