Army ROTC Questions

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shannon2023

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Oct 21, 2022
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Hello, I just won a 3 year army ROTC scholarship, and I have a few questions. I tried reaching out on the scholarship portal, but they aren't much help. Any guidance on any of the questions would be greatly appreciated.

1. When do I have to do the DoDMERB? No one has reached out to me so far. Do I not have to do it until right before my scholarship starts?

2. The scholarship covers either full tuition, or up to $10,000 for room and board. During my sophomore year, if I choose for the scholarship to pay for my room and board, how does it work? I plan to live in the off-campus apartments, so will the money be reimbursed to me? Or am I required to live on campus if I want the scholarship to pay for it?

3. I want to branch aviation. I understand that it is very hard to branch. My second choice will be to branch medical, and hopefully become a medevac pilot. If I go the medical route, what is the process? At what point will I know if I will be a medevac pilot? Will I have to go through medical training beforehand?

Any guidance on any of these questions would be a great help! If anyone else has questions, feel free to post them in this discussion as well.
 
I can't address #1, but the process should start soon. I am sure some other posters can help.

For #2, please check with the ROO at the school you plan to attend. You will probably be solicited by the staff at many schools asking you to attend their school, and some will offer more $. I also wonder about room and board $, but in my son's case he will transfer merit aid to room and board, and most public schools don't have dorm space for juniors and seniors.

#3 is the question that I can address. Please keep in mind that you are accepting a scholarship and commission for the NEEDS OF THE ARMY. The chance of branching Aviation is very slim, and the Medical Service pilot route is even more rare. There are some other discussions out there that encourage Navy and Air Force pilots to get an FAA flight physical before committing to ROTC, so that is something to consider. A male cadet should not accept the scholarship if he isn't willing to branch combat arms, or at least branch detail. I am not sure of the female branch dynamics since Infantry, Armor, and Field Artillery have few if any female slots.

I hope this helps. More posters should add more details.
 
#1. Get your DODMERB done as quickly as you can once you get to campus. Do not wait for the detachment to guide you through it. My DS was awarded a 3-year. Just before Christmas break, the PMS came to him with a 3.5 year to award, but he had to clear DoDMERB before he could contract. If he had the exam already cleared, the additional 1/2 year would have been awarded basically immediately. He went and got the exam done next day, had the paperwork submitted with no delay, but his clearance did not come through until about 5 weeks later, and those funds were no longer available. So he missed out on an additional semester of tuition plus the stipend and other benefits. So, as soon as you can, get to campus and ask your cadre’s admin for help in the DoDMERB process. If where your son is going is anything like my DS’s detachment, the admins are great. They will gladly help him.

#2. No idea

#3. Your best bet to getting what you want is get to campus and dive into the detachment 100%. The previous poster is right. The Army will put you where needed(unless you are specifically doing a special field, like my DS in Nursing). Keep your grades up and get involved at the detachment. They’ll explain the Order of Merit list, or OML. Your son will get “points” for everything he does. Maybe there’s a better way to explain it, but this is the gist of it. The better he performs and more stuff he gets involved in, the more points. That a simple explanation, but it’s basically how it works. His position on the OML will be a big factor in getting to go on the special trainings and ultimately, picking his branch. Don’t try to make big grand plans as a newly incoming freshman. Go to campus, work hard, and figure it out. My two cents. But, it’s free advice, so take it for what it’s worth.
 
1. Honestly can't remember.
2. Check with your ROO/school, my school just gave us free room and board

3. Do NOT join thinking you'll definitely be a pilot. Aviation is near the top of the branch choices as is the side route of going to MSC./67J MSC IMO is not a wise branch choice, especially if you don't get your 67J slot. If you want to know more/why, just PM me.

Join willing-to-be forced branches as a reserve chemical officer, if you are okay with that then proceed.

Sorry to my USR, I mean chemical officers 😜
 
Aglahad said:
1. Honestly can't remember.
2. Check with your ROO/school, my school just gave us free room and board

3. Do NOT join thinking you'll definitely be a pilot. Aviation is near the top of the branch choices as is the side route of going to MSC./67J MSC IMO is not a wise branch choice, especially if you don't get your 67J slot. If you want to know more/why, just PM me.

Join willing-to-be forced branches as a reserve chemical officer, if you are okay with that then proceed.

Sorry to my USR, I mean chemical officers 😜
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I actually enjoyed doing USR. I did it as a 2LT in Field Artillery when we had no Chem O, and then I volunteered as a 1LT in TC company / Combat Support Bn. Not a shocker that I went on to get my CPA when I left the Army.
 
BJD16 said:
I actually enjoyed doing USR. I did it as a 2LT in Field Artillery when we had no Chem O, and then I volunteered as a 1LT in TC company / Combat Support Bn. Not a shocker that I went on to get my CPA when I left the Army.
Click to expand...
You are one of the few!
 
shannon2023 said:
Hello, I just won a 3 year army ROTC scholarship, and I have a few questions. I tried reaching out on the scholarship portal, but they aren't much help. Any guidance on any of the questions would be greatly appreciated.

1. When do I have to do the DoDMERB? No one has reached out to me so far. Do I not have to do it until right before my scholarship starts?

2. The scholarship covers either full tuition, or up to $10,000 for room and board. During my sophomore year, if I choose for the scholarship to pay for my room and board, how does it work? I plan to live in the off-campus apartments, so will the money be reimbursed to me? Or am I required to live on campus if I want the scholarship to pay for it?

3. I want to branch aviation. I understand that it is very hard to branch. My second choice will be to branch medical, and hopefully become a medevac pilot. If I go the medical route, what is the process? At what point will I know if I will be a medevac pilot? Will I have to go through medical training beforehand?

Any guidance on any of these questions would be a great help! If anyone else has questions, feel free to post them in this discussion as well.
Click to expand...
My son won that scholarship. Do the DODMERB ASAP. He did it all before heading to freshman year and was told he just had to upload a letter from his orthodontist when his invisalign course was finished and the scholarship would activate. Imagine our surprise when, once he uploaded that letter, not one but 2 DQ codes came back. And he is at an out of state university. Had we known then what we know now... we wouldn't have waited to do any of it.

He literally JUST contracted yesterday. Valentines Day of Sophomore year. We had to take out student loans this year.
 
shannon2023 said:
Hello, I just won a 3 year army ROTC scholarship, and I have a few questions. I tried reaching out on the scholarship portal, but they aren't much help. Any guidance on any of the questions would be greatly appreciated.

1. When do I have to do the DoDMERB? No one has reached out to me so far. Do I not have to do it until right before my scholarship starts?

2. The scholarship covers either full tuition, or up to $10,000 for room and board. During my sophomore year, if I choose for the scholarship to pay for my room and board, how does it work? I plan to live in the off-campus apartments, so will the money be reimbursed to me? Or am I required to live on campus if I want the scholarship to pay for it?

3. I want to branch aviation. I understand that it is very hard to branch. My second choice will be to branch medical, and hopefully become a medevac pilot. If I go the medical route, what is the process? At what point will I know if I will be a medevac pilot? Will I have to go through medical training beforehand?

Any guidance on any of these questions would be a great help! If anyone else has questions, feel free to post them in this discussion as well.
Click to expand...
DoDMERB will contact you to start the process. Keep an eye on your spam folder just in case. They'll assign you a doctor and I believe they give you a date when it should be completed. Schedule an appointment as soon as you can just in case there are snags along the way. Your scholarship will not kick in until this is completed. Hopefully it will be complete by the start of college, but it can extend into the semester as well if things take a while due to remedials.
 
Look in the additional information tab on the application portal for help with getting the DODMERB Process started. Junior year is when you are going to start the branching process. Be prepared to ask lots of questions. I have had two Cadets in re+ent years go the medevac route and end up flying, so it can be done. I think you will complete MSC BOLC prior to being selected for pilot training.
 
EMCJohnson said:
My son won that scholarship. Do the DODMERB ASAP. He did it all before heading to freshman year and was told he just had to upload a letter from his orthodontist when his invisalign course was finished and the scholarship would activate. Imagine our surprise when, once he uploaded that letter, not one but 2 DQ codes came back. And he is at an out of state university. Had we known then what we know now... we wouldn't have waited to do any of it.

He literally JUST contracted yesterday. Valentines Day of Sophomore year. We had to take out student loans this year.
Click to expand...
+1 on this. Get it done ASAP and before you go to school if possible. Freshman year you are going in 100 different directions. You're not getting the scholarship until you are clear.
 
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To add on to this, start collecting your medical records now, or at the least at the start of summer so you'll have them on hand if you have to provide AMI. Wish we would have thought to do this before now. My son is a Freshman and we are working on a waiver right now attempting to collect all the necessary paperwork. It's tedious and time consuming and records can take up to 30 days to arrive.
 
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