Are there manuals for AROTC, NROTC, or AFROTC that incoming freshmen should study?

Herman_Snerd

Herman_Snerd

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Good Afternoon, For those going ROTC, are there any specific non-confidential manuals they should study this summer on regulations, policy, procedure, customs/ courtesies, military history that would prepare help them begin to prepare for their officer training?

For those with a little more experience in the programs, if appropriate, please consider sharing any available links or specific policies / manuals/ online links perhaps from specific programs they should look into. I'll keep this ask Branch-neutral but if replying please include the branch that your link relates to.


Fortune favors the prepared#

Thanks!
 
They teach your kid everything they need to know. Actually, learning some of this stuff ahead of time, while it won't defeat certain aspects of the training, can make it more difficult to achieve the desired results. Just my 2 cents. That being said, many colleges have NROTC web sites and you can typically find a lot of info there. A pint's a pound the world around, or something like that. Doesn't have to be stuff from the college they will be attending.
 
Based on my DS's Army ROTC experience....spend more time on:
  • working out - Get ready for the APFT.
  • Run, run and run some more.
  • Try to get a jump on reading lists for the academic classes.
  • Enjoying the summer...it may be the last truly carefree one for a while.
If he is DETERMINED to read something military, for Army ROTC a safe bet is the Ranger Handbook. (But he should NOT become a know-it all and memorize it, spouting off the knowledge, lest he becomes "that" cadet.)
http://www.milsci.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.mili.d7/files/sitefiles/resources/Ranger Handbook.pdf
 
+1 to the comments above. Walking in knowing it all, or even most, is not necessarily a good thing. The upperclassmen will still find a way to make things difficult for you, and knowing stuff just leads to upping the ante. Among peers, it can be seen as showing up the others and making them look bad. So as said above, prepare in other ways and know they’ll teach you all you need to know when you need to know it.
 
AFI 36-2011 is a great place to start after reading up on the AFROTC website. There is a ton of useful information in there, including some interview prep at the back.

Other than that, there is nothing better than calling your nearest AFROTC Detachment and asking for a sit-down with the Recruiting Officer.

There is no mystery to the USAF or AFROTC; no smoke-filled rooms or secret lists of potential recruits. It's very straight-forward and open-- we simply want to acquire and train well-suited officer candidates before our competition gets them (which is pretty much the entire private sector at this point).
 
From DS' NROTC unit: http://navy.rotc.umich.edu/current-students/documents/

If you scroll down to Manuals there is a Knowledge Packet and Handbook and an Incoming Freshman Packet that DS was told to familiarize himself with before he reported to the unit a couple years ago. With the Chain of Command information, just be sure you verify the info is current, since it seems to change quite regularly at the National level these days. The packets have lots of good info.
 
Last year naval Indoc sent DS some material to study in advance. Do.

Concur with what was stated above: check unit website, prepare for civilian classes, work out, and run.

There’s really no “getting ahead” as much as preparing to hit the ground running, whether for classes or PFAs.

It’s a tough first semester afterall.

We encourage DS to enrich when he can’t get ahead and is done working out. Summer knowledge acquisition sometimes takes a non-study learning experience.

If I had a chance to re-do last summer, before he began, I would’ve encouraged:
1. More contact with Navy vets.
2. More workouts, & longer runs.

I’ve read here some rising (select cadet/mdn) are able to workout with a local university unit over the summer. Can’t hurt to ask if this is an option available to you. DS has mentioned he’s run into MDN at CORTRAMID he’s met previously at NROTC competitions and Indoc. Any shared experience can start the network growing!
 
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