I would listen to clarkson regarding your second question. The reason why is because of question number 1.
I would also say that people need to remember that although the avg person thinks sequestration ends on Sept 30th, the DoD budget still has to cut 10% of their budget again this yr. and will for many more yrs.
Just my 0.019753 cents, but if they have to cut money/pinch pennies, ask yourself where that cut will come from...AD or ROTC? It can mean that last yr they had more 4 yrs than this yr.
~~~~ I.E. AF cut their budget about 4 yrs ago. One yr group, they even cancelled ICSP. They cancelled non-rated OCS boards. The AFA did not ask for a waiver to go over the 4400 max, and cut the incoming class size by @20%. (1650 apptmts to 1350).
My questions would be:
How is the Army standing right now with their budget?
~~~~ With troops still in the sandbox, and Syria causing issues, will this impact anything from their original draw down plan? If so, where is that money going to come from if the DoD has to stay within this current budget.----Obviously, the Navy right now is going to chew up a lot of that money from a strike position.
~~~~ Will the DoD take from AF/Army to help the Navy budget. I.E. robbing Peter to pay Paul?
If so, will the USMA applicants be a factor for ROTC scholarships?
Is the USMA constricting their class size? If they are, than from a rational pov, you will have more cadets taking the scholarship, due to a lower appointment chance.
~~~~ These candidates typically have strong WCSs, and many apply to ROTC as plan B. Thus, there maybe lower chances of getting to switch dets come spring. Please look at the AFA 300 cut remark above.
Will they cancel summer training programs instead, but keep the scholarships at the same level if the budget takes the hit?
IOTW, they may keep all of the scholarships at the same level, but cut summer training except what they consider mandatory.
~~~~ AFROTC did exactly that. SFT is basically all you get now as a ROTC cadet.
Honestly, I would be looking right now at the big picture, which is the DOD budget when it comes to ROTC.