Back on track to the OP
[u said:
defense money honey[/u]] see today that our esteemed lawmakers (not so super-committee) have failed to do their jobs in Washington. With automatic cuts to the budget, how will this effect those with ROTC scholarships already awarded, as well as future awards. Automatic cuts would reduce the defense budget by 23%...whooaa, thats a lot!! Now what? My DS is a freshman on a 4 year scholarship. Any of you have any thoughts regarding 1) current scholarships being resended or 2) with the cuts last year in ROTC awards, will it only get worse this year?
Here is a link that you might find useful, the majority of the answers are not schockingly vague. At @ the 1 Hr 39 minute marker they state that what they have promised already, they intend to fulfill those promises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYdc2sVuOpA&feature=player_embedded#!
Your child is in the system now so you can expect them to fulfill the scholarship needs as long as your child is fulfilling his requirements for the scholarship.
Will the cuts get worse this yr? Several times throughout this session, all of the Gens/Adm stated yes. Personnel will be hit.
The positive for your DS is that because he will not commission until 2015, by the time he comes around to raising his hand and taking the oath, most of this will have settled out already.
That doesn't mean he should take anything for granted because traditionally there is fine print in the contract, i.e. CGPA to make the contract null and void.
Nobody here is psychic, nobody can tell any candidate or cadet that in a few short yrs it will be the same.
11 yrs ago when the class of 2005 entered the military, no branch foresaw 9/11. Many thought it was a great option to pay for college. Little did they know 4 yrs later they would be in the desert, and may spend 50%+ of their AD life deployed there while they paid back their commitment for the scholarship.
For AFROTC many of the cadets that entered in 06 on scholarship, attended Summer Field Training (SFT) did not expected to be cut loose 3 months prior to commissioning, but it happened in the AF. Our DS entered in 08, pull a 3.0 + and you had close to a guarantee shot for SFT. 2 yrs later when he was up for SFT the gpa was 3.2 for non-tech to feel comfortable; only 55% of all cadets were selected.
AF trimmed personnel by reducing the amount of cadets accepted to SFT. It was never even a thought in our mind that when he contracted they could cut him after 2 yrs. That was now his reality. No SFT = no commissioning. We did not read the fine print of the scholarship.
Truly, the ones on this site that have a better insight to your question would be Marist or Clarkson. They are both AD Army ROTC officers at colleges.
They have a strong pulse on this situation. This is the time they are interviewing and moving forward for FY13 for AROTC.
I am not sure which branch your DS is in as a ROTC cadet/mid. Each branch has their own budget and each branch will determine where to cut and how.
Even on the youtube link, all of the 4 stars discussed at various times how they are cutting personnel. Gen Amos stated with these cuts they may be forced to go below the 187K service members. Schwartz stated it may be 1000's of military personnel cut. Odinero stated that because they got hit harder compared to other services with the original 465 BN, there is nothing sacred, including personnel and Guard units. Adm. Greenert has stated the same as the others.
Believe it or not warning signs exist before anything happens. We, as fools refuse to see them and will rationalize what is occurring away for our own sanity. For ex: In 2010 the AF announced the cancellation of non-rated OCS boards. Few months later they announced that no IS scholarships will occur. On top of SFT reducing from the 65%+ SFT selection to a 55%.
The signs were there. The last signal was the AFA decided not to ask for a waiver to be over 4400 cadets, but instead cut drastically the class of 15 and 16.
AF not washing back UPT students, but washing out was a flare... in other words you will not be a pilot, and because of that we can cut you loose from the AF. RIFs bringing brought back for field grade with 15 yrs was huge.
Look at waivers for ROTC candidates they are not being handed out like candy.
Look at A/NROTC the transferring of the scholarship to another unit from public to private are becoming rarer with each day.
Clarkson and Marist will tell you that last yr the amount of cadets awarded scholarships for 15 was greatly reduced compared to the commissioning class of 11.
Good luck, Bless you and your family for stepping up to defend this country.
For me personally, I am sorry that your 1st post became a land mine. This site is truly filled with people who get this unique life, but like family sometimes we forget to illustrate our best manners at all times. We forget that even if we bicker, if something horrendous occurred in our lives no words would need to be said, we would be the 1st to show up at the door and say it will be alright.
