When does ROTC contact me?

Mateob

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2015
Messages
25
Hi
I'm a high school senior who's about to attend the University of Washington on a 4-year AFROTC scholarship. I'm still waiting on a medical waiver for anemia and JRA, but I was told by the Air Force that I will probably get the waiver, assuming I submit a blood test that shows healthy hemoglobin sometime in the summer. I've been taking iron pills and eating spinach religiously. So I'm not too worried about medical status at this point (although I started DoDMERB in OCTOBER, so I'm starting to think it may never end).

I was just wondering, if anyone has any experience with AFROTC or (even better) UW AFROTC specifically, when do we get contacted by the cadre and sort of told what's happening when? I'm assuming we probably get an email or something from them at some point telling us when we start ROTC, how to get uniforms, etc... Will I not get this correspondence until my DoDMERB is 100% finished? Or what

Thanks!
 
I'm assuming you officially accepted the scholarship. In our experience, it is best to reach out rather than wait to hear anything. For general questions, contact your scholarship technician (you should have contact info in email from AFROTC). For school and detachment questions "when we start ROTC, how to get uniforms, etc.." contact the detachment. Generally, you won't hear much until you start. When you register, you also have to make sure to sign up for the proper AFROTC courses. In my son's case, we contacted the school and informed them that he would be on scholarship. They said to ignore bills and they would receive a list from AFROTC when school started and would then adjust all charges. The detachment sent an email with a basic outline of what to do to prepare.
 
DoDMERB is not the contact I would use. DoDMERB only Qs or DQs. I also would not contact the unit in this case.

I would be on the horn with HQ AFROTC at Maxwell. The reason why is all your detachment knows as of right now is you have a scholarship, but no decision for the DQ. Contacting HQ directly will allow them to say where you stand currently.
 
I had to get a waiver for the same thing, though I am not on scholarship. Mine took a very short amount of time from DQ to waiver. I looked online at my DodMerb status after getting my remedials done, and saw that I was DQ'd, I called for clarification, called the DodMerb office, not my det, and I was told that I'd already gotten a waiver. This was over winter break, when I got back to my Det, one of our cadre gave me the letter, with my DQ and a handwritten waiver from someone at DoDMerb. Told me that they send them to the dets most cases now, because they've had instances of cadets not coming back after getting DQ'd and forfeiting their waiver because they missed too much LLAB.

I say, contact your Det, and see whats going on. My case was unusual, as most waivers don't happen as quickly as mine did. Mine literally took about a week max, I think, to go through.

How low was your hemoglobin when you got your lab results? Are you a male or a female because that may impact the results. Its normal for females to have slightly lower hemoglobin levels.

Was your anemia severe?
 
I'm still in high school,. Should I just find my detachment's contact info online?

And I actually already spoke with the waiver authority who said they would review my file once I submitted a "good" blood test. I'm a male, and my hemoglobin was 12. So not severe by any means, but definitely still below the range.
 
I would contact the unit, but understand that for ROTC detachments they are dealing with multiple issue, and right now in May you are on the bottom of the totem pole.

1. The cadre is filled with AD members.
~ PCS aka moving usually occurs now...hence staff changes.
~ They don't take leave aka vacations during the school yr. They are taking it now.

Place those 2 things together and they are probably on a skeleton crew right now.

2. That skeleton crew is dealing with the following.:
200s SFT orders.
300 rated board cadets orders to WPAFB for flight medical exam...aka FAA FC1.
400s that just commissioned and their ADAF orders.
Disenrollment of 100s.
HQ and waivers for 200s not selected for SFT, but want to come back as an AS500

3. Orientation.
~ At your orientation weekend when you are registering for classes, that is when they do the sit down.
~~IOWS, that is how they run the program at your college.

Our DSs college did #3. We never contacted unit...blind trust and belief that he would know at least a month before what the process is for the recipients They did at his orientation with the university.
~ We were smart enough to keep every correspondence ever created between him an HQ AFROTC. He took copies of the scholarship letter to his orientation. He had no DQs or remedials. When he got there they said Welcome Cadet Bullet/Pima DS we were waiting for you, and sat him down that day of what to expect now

FWIW, the scholarshio rollercoaster ride was the easiest you will endure They have been doing this for eons. This might be your schools process. Contacting them now, may look like you are a squeaky wheel...nobody likes a squeaky wheel. If at orientation or a month prior to start of classes and it is still silent than contact them IMPO. However, right now I would leave it alone, and care more about things like training to max the PFA. Start studying the AFOQT. Even if they don't require it as a freshmen, it will occur no later than your 200 year and matter for SFT selection. If you want rated take some flight hours this summer. Start building your next selection board package.

~ Think about it...the majority of AFROTC cadets are walk ons.

If you said you were going to an SMC my opinion would be different, I would say contact them. Yet, you aren't. You are a UW student that has an AFROTC scholarship... neither is better, but it is how the college works/views you as an incoming student.
 
I'm still in high school,. Should I just find my detachment's contact info online?

And I actually already spoke with the waiver authority who said they would review my file once I submitted a "good" blood test. I'm a male, and my hemoglobin was 12. So not severe by any means, but definitely still below the range.

I go back to my earlier statement...contact HQ AFROTC right now regarding where they are regarding reviewing your file...still below the range may equate to a DQ. The unit cannot give you advice or may not answer anything because they may have been informed already that you are not cleared. You being proactive with HQ may mean you know before they do.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! Pima, you seem to know all when it comes to ROTC/ SA's.:) Now that I know it's typical for them not to contact until orientation I will definitely wait to reach out to my unit. I'll just keep eating kale, taking iron, working out, and hoping they approve my waiver. The AFROTC medical office said I will probably get a waiver for the JRA because my rheumatoid factor/ ANA was negative, and the anemia isn't an issue as long as I get it up. Can't WAIT for AFROTC!
 
Update: I actually just got a letter from Detachment 910 in the mail today, explaining a lot.
 
Back
Top