Leaving AFROTC After Field Training

Mahruon

New Member
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Sep 20, 2015
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Hello All,

I'm currently in my fifth and final year of college (yay engineering!) and have been in AF ROTC since my sophomore year, meaning I'm now in my second year of being a POC. To make it a short question, is it possible to leave AFROTC after completing Field Training for a non-scholarship, non-rated POC cadet?

The Long Version:

I finished field training at the bottom of my flight (no unsats, just bottom of the flight). On all of my cadet records, I have a majority of sats and a few outstandings in different categories (once again no unsats). The Cadet Wing knows I put alot of hard work into everything I do and many the GMC look to me for mentoring. However, my cadre have told me since right after Field Training that they will not commission me after I graduate as it stands without some major improvement on my part. As of right now, they are not confident that I am able to be a good leader/instructor in the AF and continue to remind me that they don't want to commission me.

My grades aren't the best, I'm sitting at a 2.675. In Engineering, everything is graded on a curve. Your grade is basically how you did compared to how everyone else in your class did. Intellectually, I feel as if I'm not on par with my peers and thusly need more time to study to keep up with them. However, as we all know AFROTC can be demanding on our time.

I have had internships in engineering as part of my schooling requires such. I know that I'm good at civilian engineering and I like it a lot. My concern is that if I put more energy/time into ROTC, I may fail a class and thusly not obtain my commission and allow my GPA to go further down and making it harder for me to get a job in the civilian world. Additionally, I feel if I do put more time and energy into ROTC, my GPA will go down and if the cadre still feel as if I'm not where they want me, I could still be out of a commission and the work put in will have been counterproductive.

I do worry about the idea that the cadre may be right and I wont make a good leader. What if they commission me and I fail my Airmen? Although I do well at my cadet wing jobs, the staff at FT and my cadre do feel as if I may not be a good leader. If they're right, I would hate to get a commission and get someone killed because I'm incompetent as a leader. I've been talking to a lot of my mentors to talk it out with other people. Right now I just want to know what my options are.

Right now I just want to know what my options are. Is it possible for a non-scholarship, non-rated, POC cadet to leave AFROTC?
 
Take this all with a grain of salt, but I don't think getting out of an AFROTC contract will be particularly hard, especially because AFROTC is not hurting for people right now. If you're a 400 and doubting your ability to lead, and your cadre are also doubting you, it might not be a bad idea to get out. That being said, don't give in just from lack of confidence. If this is what you want to do and you think you can improve, throw yourself into it. If the cadre thought you didn't have the potential to begin with, they would have already kicked you out. Them conditionally keeping you in sounds like they have faith in your potential.

Either way, talk to your cadre about it. They would know the most and have the most ability to investigate your options and see if you can get out without having to pay back anything.
 
If being an AF officer is something you really want to do, my advice would be to NOT give up! The person you are now, under the pressure of college, AFROTC, etc, is not the person you will always be. Improvement is always possible! However, I believe your academics should come first. That is something that can heavily impact the rest of your working life. Good luck to you!
 
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