Info. please

[LawyerLynn]

Well, after 3 years of trying my DS hit the end today when he was told his appeal was denied and he would not be granted a medical waiver for the Coast Guard Academy. He is in the same boat with Merchant Marine & Navy so after 3 years of trying, his dream of one of the marine academies is gone. He has, however, been active in his current university's Army ROTC program and has received a medical waiver through them and been offered a contract which he now intends to sign and go forward with the goal of commissioning into the army and going to medical school and becoming a surgeon.

Could someone just fill me in on some of the basics of how the Army ROTC program works? He has to contract in order to enter the 3rd year of the program and he does want to go full active duty upon graduation. He wants to make a career of the military, but I'm not sure how all that works and what to expect going forward now. So links, info, etc. would be appreciated. I know all I need to know about the Academies having lived through that process for 3+ years now. But I know very little about the ROTC process to commissioning and service. Thanks.

 

[Jcleppe]

Well, the first thing you can do is look through some of the previous posts on the ROTC board, there is a lot of information about contracting, daily ROTC life, the OML, and Branching. Ask any specific questions and someone will try and answer.

I notice you mentioned that your son wants to attend Med School, is this something he wants to do right after he graduates, is he looking at an Educational Delay to attend Med School. From your post it sounds like he wants to go Active when he graduates.

Now that he is contracting he will complete the next year of ROTC (MS3 year) he will then go to CLC Summer Training. At his point he will submit all his stats to Cadet Command and will be put on an OML to determine whether he gets Active Duty. If he gets AD then he will be put on the AD OML for Branch selection based on what he lists on his wish list and his placement on the OML. After he completes his senior year (MS4 year) he will be assigned a Branch BOLC Training date , he will graduate/commission and then just wait to go to BOLC.

There are some threads on here that explain and discuss the new OML system.