AFROTC Experience

RICECUBE

RICECUBE

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Joined
Mar 15, 2023
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Hello everyone, I'm lucky to have received a 4-year type 1 scholarship to join detachment 645 at OSU later this year. If anyone has any advice or experience they'd be willing to share for summer prep or for the first year in general, that would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hey! I’m at OSU rn doing AFROTC, best summer recommendation is to work on getting yourself in great shape as fitness is a big part of AFROTC and you’ll wanna hit the ground running. Also if possible look on the roommate board to possibly room with someone who is also in ROTC, it’ll help with the early morning wakeups and holding yourself accountable. OSU has a great program with a lot of good folks so come with a good attitude and you’ll do great!
 
ZHman said:
Hey! I’m at OSU rn doing AFROTC, best summer recommendation is to work on getting yourself in great shape as fitness is a big part of AFROTC and you’ll wanna hit the ground running. Also if possible look on the roommate board to possibly room with someone who is also in ROTC, it’ll help with the early morning wakeups and holding yourself accountable. OSU has a great program with a lot of good folks so come with a good attitude and you’ll do great!
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Thank you so much for the advice, is there anything you recommend fitness-wise?
 
On the physical fitness side of things I would look at what the current active duty PFA is and go from there. Build up with the running to get your lungs to expand. Work on your core. So up in PT shape to stay off of remedial PT out of the gate. Congratulations on the scholarship! Good luck to you!
 
RICECUBE said:
Thank you so much for the advice, is there anything you recommend fitness-wise?
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An easy goal for any ROTC cadet on the strength side would be to be able to do 50 PU without stopping and 75 in 2 minutes, same with SU even though the military has moved to planking, and also plank for at least 3 minutes. For the run, be able to run a mile around 6 minutes, 2 miles around 13 minutes and 3 miles around 21 minutes. Any in-shape soccer, basketball, or lacrosse player shouldn't have too much of an issue with PT requirements.

Remember that the military has 3 types of pressure: physical, academic, and mental. You can't really prepare for the mental, but the better you are at the first two, the easier the mental is to figure out.
 
BJD16 said:
An easy goal for any ROTC cadet on the strength side would be to be able to do 50 PU without stopping and 75 in 2 minutes, same with SU even though the military has moved to planking, and also plank for at least 3 minutes. For the run, be able to run a mile around 6 minutes, 2 miles around 13 minutes and 3 miles around 21 minutes. Any in-shape soccer, basketball, or lacrosse player shouldn't have too much of an issue with PT requirements.

Remember that the military has 3 types of pressure: physical, academic, and mental. You can't really prepare for the mental, but the better you are at the first two, the easier the mental is to figure out.
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That's a pretty high bar. For example, 15:28 for 2 miles looks like 90/100 of the ACFT 2mile run for a male. 13:22 gets 100 points.

AF uses a 1.5mi run I think so its hard to compare.

If someone was a track or XC athlete in HS, 13 minutes might be no problem but without some running background or natural ability? A 13 min 2 mile will take time to achieve and will be unreachable, frankly, for many. Just trying not to scare off the OP here..
 
ColordoKid24 said:
That's a pretty high bar. For example, 15:28 for 2 miles looks like 90/100 of the ACFT 2mile run for a male. 13:22 gets 100 points.

AF uses a 1.5mi run I think so its hard to compare.

If someone was a track or XC athlete in HS, 13 minutes might be no problem but without some running background or natural ability? A 13 min 2 mile will take time to achieve and will be unreachable, frankly, for many. Just trying not to scare off the OP here..
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I would highly disagree with unreachable. Perhaps if you're taking a hard courseload and unable to work out correctly, but the right plan should get you there.
 
I might be a little off in my numbers, since I am former Army and my son is considering Marine Corps. I do stress to our Sea Cadet unit that kids need to incorporate a "Culture of Fitness" into their lives. The kids who play multiple team sports at the high school level should be fine, especially for Navy and Air Force. This generation of gamers might be in for a rude awakening if they get off the couch in senior year, and expect to be competitive for ROTC. Kids need to be near the midpoint for each branch before senior year, and then try to better their scores for their applications. ROTC is so much harder for kids who aren't in shape. I wish I worked out more in college, but I was always a strong runner.

My son is class of 2025, and I have set a goal for him of 290 for Marine test and 1450 for SAT. He is making great progress on pull-ups and run, and is a year and a half away from application date (he takes his first SAT in a week). Don't leave any quantifiable data point to chance!
 
ColordoKid24 said:
That's a pretty high bar. For example, 15:28 for 2 miles looks like 90/100 of the ACFT 2mile run for a male. 13:22 gets 100 points.

AF uses a 1.5mi run I think so its hard to compare.

If someone was a track or XC athlete in HS, 13 minutes might be no problem but without some running background or natural ability? A 13 min 2 mile will take time to achieve and will be unreachable, frankly, for many. Just trying not to scare off the OP here..
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You know it’s funny that you mention it but I originally started this thread because I’m a 6 year cross country and track runner and I’m close to finishing my last track season right now so running is the least of my worries for PT. I’ve got the classic skinny distance guy build so I wanted to ask for any suggestions here for my summer bulk to prep for AFROTC and so far all the advice has been great.
 
anom said:
I would highly disagree with unreachable. Perhaps if you're taking a hard courseload and unable to work out correctly, but the right plan should get you there.
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I'd have to agree with @anom here. 2 miles is no super long distance. It's pretty dubious to use the excuse that you don't have a long-distance runner's build for anything less than a few miles, and certainly not applicable for a 1-mile run. Anyone who doesn't have a lot of extra bodyfat loading them down should be able to get down to around 13(2mi) and 6(1mi). Granted, it will take more sweat depending on your body type.
 
RICECUBE said:
You know it’s funny that you mention it but I originally started this thread because I’m a 6 year cross country and track runner and I’m close to finishing my last track season right now so running is the least of my worries for PT. I’ve got the classic skinny distance guy build so I wanted to ask for any suggestions here for my summer bulk to prep for AFROTC and so far all the advice has been great.
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Well, you have no worries then. One of my kids was the same story, running was the easy part. Pushups were (and remain) the hard part especially being taller and long limbed. But he gets through it without any heroic preparation. Just do pushups regularly and if going to the gym is appealing, it certainly wont hurt.

But if I had to guess, a solid 25% or more of his high school boys XC team couldn't break 21min even after a whole season of training.

And next time I talk to him I'll ask how many guys hit 13 min when they PT test. He's at a big school and I bet its not all that many.
 
My son is the incoming Vice Wing Commander for DET645 at OSU. I’ll DM you his details. He would love to say hi and talk to you.
 
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aetosArmy said:
I'd have to agree with @anom here. 2 miles is no super long distance. It's pretty dubious to use the excuse that you don't have a long-distance runner's build for anything less than a few miles, and certainly not applicable for a 1-mile run. Anyone who doesn't have a lot of extra bodyfat loading them down should be able to get down to around 13(2mi) and 6(1mi). Granted, it will take more sweat depending on your body type.
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We have guys that get taped and run 18 minute 3 miles. Bulk doesn't always make you a bad runner.
 
The classic "Are runners with less body fat better or do better runners have less body fat as a result of training?" debate. Personally, I agree with the latter but there are always exceptions. Actually, the previous record holder of most of the cross-country and distance track events was this big 5'8 160 guy who looked like he belonged on a lacrosse field or a hockey rink. In my case, I'm about as mediocre of a high school distance runner as you'll find (7:46 50k, 1:35 half marathon, 19:45 5k, 11:45 2-mile, and 5:30 mile), so running after high school won't be as big of a priority in contrast to if I were actually somewhat fast and wanted to keep the speed. That means I can finally focus on gaining some weight and muscle to not look like a malnourished child from a third-world country.
 
Weight/bulk is the enemy of any distance runner/cyclist. Saw a guy who looked like Apollo Creed once in a Half Marathon on pace for about 1:30, insane!
 
I only have my son to go by so I realize people have different abilities. He played HS Varsity Baseball and while he was in good shape, i wouldn't call him Mr. Athletic. The thing is that you have to build up to the pushups and the sit-ups and the running. No one expects you to score a 90+ on the first week of school. And let's be honest, the Air Force isn't known for having the hardest physical training. Assuming running isn't your biggest strength, i would probably spend time working on that. As someone else wrote, they do or they did use 1.5 mile run as their standard, so i would work on that. The thing is , with PT in the mornings, you should be able to work yourself up to where you need to be. My son's detachment would reward you if you got over 91or 92 score and that was where my son would wind up. If he really pushed himself, he probably could have gotten in the upper 90s but the only guys who need those scores were guys who wanted to be Pararesecue as they have to be in elite condition. Once you go on active duty, they test you once a year and if you reach a certain score you get to test again the following year. If not, you have to test in another 6 months.
 
ZHman said:
Hey! I’m at OSU rn doing AFROTC, best summer recommendation is to work on getting yourself in great shape as fitness is a big part of AFROTC and you’ll wanna hit the ground running. Also if possible look on the roommate board to possibly room with someone who is also in ROTC, it’ll help with the early morning wakeups and holding yourself accountable. OSU has a great program with a lot of good folks so come with a good attitude and you’ll do great!
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Both my husband and I did AROTC. Kids #1 & 2 are AROTC. Kid #3 is starting SFROTC. We discouraged our kids from seeking out ROTC roommates. It is good to have different groups of friends, and Freshman year is where a lot of those groups are formed. Just my opinion- and has worked out well for my kids, so far. Just need to be clear that you will be waking up early a few times per week.
 
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