Hello everyone, I am a current college freshman and my first Army ROTC PT session and MLS class are on Tuesday. I'm here looking for any possible advice on how to do well as I am applying to USMA this year as well. I applied last year, but no dice so I'm looking to do well in ROTC this semester and reapply. I am very eager to get started with ROTC and so any advice to help me improve myself so that I can have a stronger application to the academy will be greatly appreciated.
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2017
- Messages
- 9,369
My advice is to be open minded to what your current AROTC program is. IOW, don’t be focused solely on WP. You may fall in love with this path!!
Current MS2 in AROTC. Your job as an MS1 is simply to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right gear. That's pretty easy, so focus on just absorbing information. Everything you do in ROTC land should be pretty easy, so make it all second nature.
ROTC is fun and all for teaching tactics and getting you conditioned to doing hard things, but it's not great at actually developing your leadership abilities (this is my opinion not fact). You do get to practice being a leader which is great, and take as many opportunities to do so as you can. Learn how to empathize with other people, cultures, groups, etc. It's a lot easier to lead people who you can understand. It's a lot easier to lead people who know you respect them, their culture, etc.
Have fun tho. ROTC land lets you do some fun stuff your normally wouldn't be able to do. It can be hard (obviously) but as long as you put in the effort it's not that bad.
ROTC is fun and all for teaching tactics and getting you conditioned to doing hard things, but it's not great at actually developing your leadership abilities (this is my opinion not fact). You do get to practice being a leader which is great, and take as many opportunities to do so as you can. Learn how to empathize with other people, cultures, groups, etc. It's a lot easier to lead people who you can understand. It's a lot easier to lead people who know you respect them, their culture, etc.
Have fun tho. ROTC land lets you do some fun stuff your normally wouldn't be able to do. It can be hard (obviously) but as long as you put in the effort it's not that bad.
Excel academically, first off. In order to do that at the college level, you have to consider ultimate time management between your classes, your Physical fitness, and your ROTC obligations. Develop a routine with studying- stay at the library if the dorm is too distracting, And, perhaps even more importantly, ask for help when you need it. DO not wait until a midterm to is over to go to a professor's office hours. Show up to them, so that your professor knows who you are and that by going to office hours, you demonstrate the desire to succeed academically. All too often, freshmen find out the hard way that they don't really know the material as well as they thought. And, I repeat- Ask for help when needed. Mos t colleges offer peer tutoring at no charge. Even if you know the material, when you go to office hours, ask the professor what they feel is the best way to be successful in that class. Do this at the start of each semester. No matter which path you eventually take, excelling academically will always serve you well. Best of luck.
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2017
- Messages
- 811
Wait until your MS3 year. MS1 and MS2 focuses on the foundations first. If during your MS3 year, you feel you aren't receiving adequate leadership development, let your MS3 Instructor and PMS know, especially if they are combat arms.
Lots of good timeless advice here.
- If you're not 10 minutes early, you're late.
- Leave your cell phone in your dorm room (many of us were in their 40s before we owned one of the stupid things, so yes, you can live without it during the day).
- Find the rowdiest redneck with the biggest pickup imaginable, and ask him to drive all over your gaming system. Or take them to the range, and invite their use as targets.
- PT, PT, PT. Fat boys (and girls) do not do well in the military. And being in shape helps you study and sleep better.
- Maintain focus on priorities.
- STFU! Don't brag, don't voice your strong opinions, don't talk stuff you can't back up, don't provide TMI. Don't get baited. Avoid at all costs discussions of race, religion, politics, etc. Pay attention to those in authority. Trust but verify - you kids have more computing power in your pockets than NASA had during the whole Apollo program. Use google for something useful, and know what you're talking about before opening your mouths.
- If you're not 10 minutes early, you're late.
- Leave your cell phone in your dorm room (many of us were in their 40s before we owned one of the stupid things, so yes, you can live without it during the day).
- Find the rowdiest redneck with the biggest pickup imaginable, and ask him to drive all over your gaming system. Or take them to the range, and invite their use as targets.
- PT, PT, PT. Fat boys (and girls) do not do well in the military. And being in shape helps you study and sleep better.
- Maintain focus on priorities.
- STFU! Don't brag, don't voice your strong opinions, don't talk stuff you can't back up, don't provide TMI. Don't get baited. Avoid at all costs discussions of race, religion, politics, etc. Pay attention to those in authority. Trust but verify - you kids have more computing power in your pockets than NASA had during the whole Apollo program. Use google for something useful, and know what you're talking about before opening your mouths.
- Joined
- May 22, 2018
- Messages
- 5,508
Should apply to all college students. My humble opinion, as someone who teaches them: One of the leading causes of poor college performance, especially among males.
nrotcmid23
Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2020
- Messages
- 143
I would advise against this. Many ROTC units will use text/calls to contact you if they need you and if you don't have your phone on you you're SOL. Rather, be disciplined in your use of said phone.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
- Messages
- 6,848
Agree with @nrotcmid23.
Many colleges and universities use texts for emergency broadcast alerts. Not good to be without a phone these days.
My DS is now an active duty Army officer and even his chain of command depends on text messaging for on-call communications.
Last edited:
Guessing from your username you're a cadet. So, you're learning and that's a good thing.
In most of both my military career, and military contractor career, both before and after the advent of cell phones, there is/was no way to instantly contact me once my duty day began, other than getting in a vehicle and driving over to talk to me in person, or maybe using this antiquated thing called a radio (if I was within range).
Rather than relying on 24/7 instant contact, you future leaders need to be learning to plan in advance. There is absolutely no reason, other than poor planning, a cadet should not know the what, where, and when of tomorrow's schedule. Seriously, is a 2LT,going to wait until her unit has fallen in to mobilize before she decides to text motorpool to send a few trucks over?
We used to preach the 6 Ps (prior planning prevents pizz poor performance), and the flippant, but true "lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part".
Finally, as you transition to the military, you will learn the evils of cell phones, fit bits, and other IOT devices. They tell the enemy all kinds of good things without your knowledge.
Not trying to be mean, just trying to show you we can do better than rely on cell phones and instant contact.
I agree, disciplined use would be great, but when the message bell chimes, you have to look at the thing before you know if it's a message from your CO, or an offer for some enhancement supplement of some sort. In either case, you are distracted.
I currently work in cybersecurity for the USMC. Most important people with a need for one, have a military issued cell phone, which is locked down like a convicted crack dealer. Everyone is being schooled on the intel nightmare posed by using personal cell phones for military business. I suspect your son has, or is about to learn of this, as it is a current focus.
Simply the act of carrying one around with you let's you be tracked by the cell carrier, and every app owner on your phone. You can set your privacy setting however you want, but that's just software and can be defeated.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
- Messages
- 6,848
Totally agree that it is a balancing act.
You need a phone to on campus to be notified of an active shooter, yet you can be tracked and targeted by a drone. Tough choice! As a college student, I would rather my student be aware of what is happening and notified of an emergency.
On the other hand, I know for a fact that while deployed, DS was devoid of all electronics while in a combat zone and wore an "older" non-trackable G-Shock wrist watch.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2010
- Messages
- 16,005
Plans change. Perhaps they aren't heading the the nearby base for LREC after all (tornadoes in the area or something). It's useful to have the phone for notification as a cadet/midshipman.
My son is also an expert in this area and this is absolutely true. Even the ability to track you can be useful. As a cadet or midshipman though, this isn't a big deal. Once active, you'll need to use your phone wisely.
This is true and false. I'm a current AROTC cadet. We use phones to contact each other all the time. I agree you shouldn't rely on instant messaging, but it's certainly a useful tool to have as backup. Since we're all in cadet land and not a real combat situation there's not really a good reason to deprive yourself of a useful tool.
You shouldn't need your phone during training events, but you should bring it with you just in case. In my unit, if you're caught looking at your phone during training, you're gonna have a bad time. But, for example, if you're trying to get accountability for your guys before PT starts and someone is missing, its good to be able to call them to see where they are rather than sitting there unable to contact them at all cause you left your phone in your dorm.
Maybe that's just the difference of being in cadet land rather than an actual unit.
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2010
- Messages
- 895
My leadership, for better or worse (and many times worse), has expected me to have my phone on me or be otherwise accessible, but I’ve also always been a part of units with immediate recall responsibilities if certain balloons went up that also involved random practicing of said recalls to make sure we were ready to perform our duties. In these types of units, good luck trying to explain to your leadership that you aren’t carrying your phone on you.
Other view point, also from active duty and more broadly applied to all units when you are directly responsible for people, the one time I didn’t have my phone on me as a LT, and my command team tried to get a hold of me for an emergency regarding one of my soldiers, it didn’t go well for me and ended up with someone knocking on my door to wake me up at a really bad hour in the morning. Not a good look, and not good for being where my soldiers needed me.
Phones are important tools. In today’s day and age, you’re going to be expected to have one and be generally accessible to your leadership or be seen as unreliable or miss out on important information you and your soldiers need.
That said, I very much understand the sentiment that you shouldn’t have to rely on phones with prior planning. Phones enable lazy leadership to wait until Sunday night to push out information for the week that could have been established Friday prior to close out formations. Junior leaders will have to fight to find the balance, tactfully if their boss falls into this lane, and ensure they don’t do the same to their squad leaders. As a senior LT/junior CPT, I had this conversation quite a few times with one of my commanders because I was constantly being brought into work or receiving information late that could have been established with deliberate thought prior to the weekend. My CO and I came up with very deliberate processes to combat the issues and it improved because she didn’t realize the impacts it was having on my work life balance constantly and my folks planning abilities. Thankfully she was receptive. Some folks are just lazy and might not be as receptive. Figuring out those communications methods is going to be one of your junior leaders’ challenges.
Other view point, also from active duty and more broadly applied to all units when you are directly responsible for people, the one time I didn’t have my phone on me as a LT, and my command team tried to get a hold of me for an emergency regarding one of my soldiers, it didn’t go well for me and ended up with someone knocking on my door to wake me up at a really bad hour in the morning. Not a good look, and not good for being where my soldiers needed me.
Phones are important tools. In today’s day and age, you’re going to be expected to have one and be generally accessible to your leadership or be seen as unreliable or miss out on important information you and your soldiers need.
That said, I very much understand the sentiment that you shouldn’t have to rely on phones with prior planning. Phones enable lazy leadership to wait until Sunday night to push out information for the week that could have been established Friday prior to close out formations. Junior leaders will have to fight to find the balance, tactfully if their boss falls into this lane, and ensure they don’t do the same to their squad leaders. As a senior LT/junior CPT, I had this conversation quite a few times with one of my commanders because I was constantly being brought into work or receiving information late that could have been established with deliberate thought prior to the weekend. My CO and I came up with very deliberate processes to combat the issues and it improved because she didn’t realize the impacts it was having on my work life balance constantly and my folks planning abilities. Thankfully she was receptive. Some folks are just lazy and might not be as receptive. Figuring out those communications methods is going to be one of your junior leaders’ challenges.