Will the Army benefit from increased competition amongst it's cadets? Usually more competition is a desirable situation but is there enough available space within most of the AROTC Battalions for more (former AFROTC) cadets and how will this affect the existing AROTC cadets at commissioning? Will more of the current cadets have to go to the Reserves or National Guard? I could imagine that if I were a current AROTC cadet that an influx of former AFROTC cadets might be somewhat disconcerting and not necessarily a welcome situation. JMPO...
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- Thread starter WannaBeOfficer
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FlyingWildcatDad
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I think the Army will definitely benefit from increased competition. I also believe you have valid points on the latter part of your post, but I don't believe that there will be that great of an influx. The two cadets I referenced joining AROTC were actually encouraged to join by their Army buddies because they both were already associated through PR's.
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New cadets joining AROTC their junior year is nothing new and happens quite often.
Current and prior enlisted can join their junior year.
There are quite often transfer students that join junior year.
NG and Reservist that have completed BCT and AIT can join junior year
Students that are starting their Masters degree can join as a 3rd year MS3 cadet.
AF cadets that come over to AROTC make up a small portion of the cadets that join junior year.
The top graduating cadet last year at my son's battalion was a two year cadet getting his Masters. One of the top cadets this year came from AD and started his junior year.
If a cadet comes from the AF, has a 3.8 GPA and can max the APFT, do well at LDAC and do well in ROTC their junior year, they will indeed be toward the top of the OML and very well take an Active slot from someone with much lower marks. The bottom line in AROTC is do not assume that because you look ok at the end of your sophomore year, that you will look the same at the end of your junior year. The new guys coming in can quickly eclipse you if you don't stay focused.
The competition is for the Army to get the best officer it can, whether these officers started ROTC their freshman year or junior year doesn't matter. Cadet command has a mission set, some battalions are traditionally full and some have openings for the MS3 year, if they can fill these openings with capable cadets from any source then the competition will work itself out.
My son was the fastest cadet in the Battalion....until a new cadet joined junior year, I think his name was "Flash". The only thing you can do is not rest on your heels the first two years, do your best because someone may come along that 3rd year that pushes you even harder.
I think one thing to keep in mind during this whole discussion is that the number of cadets in a given MS class changes dramatically from the beginning on freshman year to the day you leave for LDAC. Of the class I commissioned with they started day one of freshman year with about 30 Cadets, by the time I joined in junior year about 10 of those cadets were still there but a different 15 had joined. That's 45 cadets who had at one time been in the class, only 8 actually went to LDAC and out of that only 3 of us went active duty. I know those are dramatic numbers but from what I have seen most departments have similar stories. A couple AFROTC cadets coming in junior year is probably just going to equal out the cadets already in army ROTC who drop out for grades or DUIs or who just decided its not for them.
Also its important to remember that the army looks for different leadership traits in its officers then the AF does. So just because a cadet did poorly in AFROTC does not mean he/she will also do poorly in AROTC. The programs (and branches) are very different.
Also its important to remember that the army looks for different leadership traits in its officers then the AF does. So just because a cadet did poorly in AFROTC does not mean he/she will also do poorly in AROTC. The programs (and branches) are very different.
ERAUMattmom
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FYI - Not getting an EA for SFT when there was a 60% allocation DOES NOT mean that a cadet did poorly in AFROTC!!
I apologize I realize that was bad wording in this topic of conversation. I did not mean to imply not getting a EA was due to poor performance only that if a cadet was given bad leadership evaluations in AFROTC then that does not necessarily mean he/she will receive bad evaluations in army rotc.
WannaBeOfficer
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I think quite a few of the FTP in my detachment are coming back as 500's. I'm not sure if anyone is going the army or navy route though.