Question concerning Knob/Rat year

[Blake3348]

I have accepted a 4-year AROTC scholarship to The Citadel and was wondering, at either the Citadel or VMI, can you still go to specialized training schools such as Air Assault, Airborne, Ranger, etc. during the summer? Or is this something only offered to the SA's? My hope is to be able to go to Airborne, Air Assault, and then Ranger school after Freshman, Sophmore and Junior years respectively. How would I go about doing this?

Another question I had was, for scholarship cadets, will the military still reimburse for things like boots, uniform shoes, and flights within the country (going home for breaks)? I am going on a senior trip to the mountains and see this as a great time to break in some combat boots, but I know that I will have the opportunity to have them issued to me as well. I haven't read anything within my scholarship packet that goes too in-depth about reimbursements.


Thanks for the help!

 

[honeybadger14]

Congratulations on your scholarship! As for the Army schools, yes, you'll definitely be able to go during the summer, or whenever the school of your choice is offered slots. For instance, I know Airborne School offers winter slots in addition to summer, and Mountain Warfare also does both seasons. As for Ranger School, you will not be able to attend it as an ROTC cadet. Since you'll be contracted before you begin your school year, you'll be within the top priority tier in your ROTC battalion for school slots. Basically, when the time comes to select cadets for schools, you'll know.

When it comes to reimbursement, to my knowledge, the Army will pay for trips you make on their orders. If you get sent to an Army school and fly down there, they will pay for it. While it would be nice, they do not cover trips home for furloughs. The Army will also give you a semester book stipend in addition to your monthly pay, which if you buy your books cheaply, the rest is yours to do with, like invest in some good boots!

By the way...I personally hated the standard issue boots that VMI and AROTC gave me, so IMO, you'd be doing yourself a favor by purchasing your own. Hope that helps!

 

[pennak]

I personally hated the standard issue boots that VMI and AROTC gave me, so IMO, you'd be doing yourself a favor by purchasing your own. Hope that helps!

My DS (a VMI Rat) doesn't much like the standard issue boots at VMI. SO, I was wondering, can Rats wear their own boots before Breakout?

 

[bjkuds]

My DS (a VMI Rat) doesn't much like the standard issue boots at VMI. SO, I was wondering, can Rats wear their own boots before Breakout?

DS (A Rat) told me that one of his BR's has his JROTC boots that he uses most of the time. The only exceptions are during hell week and during RDC training you must wear what they issue otherwise you get yelled at.