More than anything, time management and physical fitness would be my two biggest hurdles I need to overcome this semester with all the school work.
mil,
FYI, I do not know if you are back at school yet, but my suggestion is to start working out immediately. This will be the 1st impression within your unit. It will be part of your score for EA next year. You want to be no lower than 96 to feel safe.
~ Run in the rain, the freezing cold, the stifling heat. Run when you are tired. Run, run, run.
~~ The way they did it at our DSs unit was the PT instructors (cadets) would split up with them being either in the front or the very back of the pack as pacers. The cadet in the back would shout out the cadets last name for everyone to hear if they were the slowest runner. You want to be at a 7 -7:15 min mile at the very least.
As a new cadet, expect not to have a position this semester within the unit. If you are given one it will not be anything insane that will take away from time management. However, as you go up the ranks in the unit, they will hit you with positions that will be a factor from a time management aspect.
~ CFC (Cadet Flight Commander) will require you to write reports and attend meetings.
~ If you are doing xtown (not host college) than you will need to get up earlier to do PT to travel to that school.
I do not know the unit, but great dets. also have what is called GMC night. Take advantage of this. GMC night is held weekly at the det. They order in pizza, wings, whatever, play foosball, crud, Xbox, PS games, etc. It is meant to bond your unit early on . GMC is for AS100/200s.
I would also look into what military fraternities they have. Arnie Air Society, Silver Wings, Honor Guard, and Angel Flight. This opens you up to socializing outside of ROTC with the cadets that are also 300/400s. Time mgmt will be an issue because you do pledge to that organization. Those 300/400s maybe your CWC, CVWC, CFC.
~ IOWS, they can mentor you along the way.
~ Every unit is different when it comes to these organizations. For example, at my DSs unit, Arnie Air was filled with cadets that wanted to go rated, regardless of their intended major. Silver wings were engineering majors.
Volunteer for everything and anything you can...as long as it does not impact your grades. You don't want to be a name with no face from the CoCs aspect. You want them to know your name and your face.
~ OBTW, attending GMC nights or joining the military fraternities will have a PMS instructor attached to those things as their go to (POC=Point of Contact). This will also give you more face time for them to see you outside of LLAB or PT.
I hope this helps you with some insight on all of the options that are available to you as an AFROTC cadet.
Good luck.
PS.During your spring and summer breaks, study the AFOQT. If you get bitten by the flying bug, than try to get some flight hours in, because that will be part of your score for the rated board during your AS300 yr (junior). Even as little as 20 hrs will bump up your score.