Leaving AROTC?

I am currently an MS1 on a 4 year army rotc scholarship and For what seems like my whole life I have wanted to be an officer in the army. At the begining of my first semester I began to have misgivings about if i really want to become an officer or not. As the semester began i subdued those feelings and actively participated in ROTC. I enjoyed it very much and did very well. The cadre like me and I like them, I also enjoyed being around the other cadets. As the semester came to a close, all the misgivings came back. I noticed myself already counting down my service obligations. I also keep thinking about being away from family and the strain it can put on my relationships. I know this decision is mine to make, but some advice or even personal experience would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

My own thoughts are that if you're having fun and enjoy it, then stick with it. We all have doubts about proceeding on a path when we have a way out. In any case you have until first day of classes sophomore year to quit without incurring an obligation. You have several months to sort this out and spending the next semester as part of ROTC cannot hurt.

Just know that ROTC is nothing like life in the real Army so if you like the "Army" aspects of it and not the "ROTCisms" just hold on a little longer. Life will get better.

I'm sure you're still getting comfortable with college life as a whole so once you get settled into a long term rhythm life might get better.

bravolima363 said:

I also keep thinking about being away from family and the strain it can put on my relationships

Click to expand...

May I ask why you believe this? No need to publicly respond if I crossed the line regarding how much you want to reveal in the family relationship.
~ IE the folks/GF don't support.

That being said, I will say my relationships with my DS in the AF (TX/we are in VA) and our DD in VA, not military, but 4 hrs away from our home is probably the best in the world. They have the freedom to miss us. We acknowledge that we did our job...raised them to fly away from the nest as much as it hurt to see them fly.

It is not uncommon to feel what you are feeling, but like others have stated...stay until the end of spring semester. You will be amazed how your emotions will change during winter break.

To add onto PIMA, your relationships will change soon. Not necessarily for better or worse, but they will evolve as you move into "big boy" world. As you progress through college you'll soon evolve and learn to live more distant so to say.

I live nowhere near where my family or my friends live, and they expect me to be away for a lot of stuff due to work and how busy my unit is, but you learn its part of the job. However, if that isn't what you're looking for or you can't adapt to that, then I wouldn't suggest avoiding the profession. There is absolutely no way around the fact that you will miss many things and be far away from those you're close to you now. It's just the name of the game.

Thanks for all the input. should I mention this to my cadre or should i wait?