ROTC or academy?
- Thread starter JJaeger
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One difference to consider is the fact that all academy grads are commissioned directly onto active duty. That means they get paid starting the day they graduate. ROTC works a bit differently, wherein you may be commissioned initially into the inactive reserves (unpaid) and later transferred to active duty when you report to your first duty station (could be a wait of several months or even a year).
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I think each discussion concluded that there were differences, especially with regard to an officer's first assignment, but we weren't willing to sum those differences up into "better or worse".
raimius
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For rank advancement, etc, there is no difference.
I don't know how Army and Navy do their assignment process, but for AF, the academy generally gets a certain number of slots for each career field. USAFA generally gets about 40% of the total AF pilot slots, although it graduates less than 40% of the AD AF officers. So, for certain jobs, academies might get greater or lesser percentages than ROTC or OTS/OCS.
Obviously, the experience between and academy, ROTC, and OTS/OCS is going to vary pretty substantially. Academy grads usually have a half-way decent grasp on how their service tends to work for day-to-day stuff. Also, they are highly likely to know people at whatever place they are stationed. For example, I can easily call up a friend who works in Finance and ping a question off them. ROTC detachments (on average) are quite a bit smaller, so it is less likely you will know people already when you get to your 1st assignment. Depending on how good a networker you are, and what you need to get done, that can be a nice thing to have.
I don't know how Army and Navy do their assignment process, but for AF, the academy generally gets a certain number of slots for each career field. USAFA generally gets about 40% of the total AF pilot slots, although it graduates less than 40% of the AD AF officers. So, for certain jobs, academies might get greater or lesser percentages than ROTC or OTS/OCS.
Obviously, the experience between and academy, ROTC, and OTS/OCS is going to vary pretty substantially. Academy grads usually have a half-way decent grasp on how their service tends to work for day-to-day stuff. Also, they are highly likely to know people at whatever place they are stationed. For example, I can easily call up a friend who works in Finance and ping a question off them. ROTC detachments (on average) are quite a bit smaller, so it is less likely you will know people already when you get to your 1st assignment. Depending on how good a networker you are, and what you need to get done, that can be a nice thing to have.
If there are no positive differences for the military, the federal government is wasting a lot of money keeping these five schools afloat. You should contact your congressman.