New to Army ROTC

[RLM10_2_06]

Alright, so I have a year of Army JROTC under my belt, as well as 3 years of Air Force JROTC, but I honestly have no clue what to expect from Army ROTC as far as structure and how I fit into the big picture. Would somebody care to elaborate a little? Where will I begin? What should I do to make sure I progress properly? How can I rest assured that I get my particular assignment (I'd like to go into the AG Corps as active duty, to be a career officer)? Any knowledge in general would be helpful, as I know this is a completely new ball game.

[PhilK]

The structure for your unit will probably follow that of a regular Battalion. You will have your Battalion Staff, Company Headquarters and other leadership positions.

Usually your Juniors are your Squad Leaders, Platoon Sergeants and other NCO or junior Officer positions. Your Seniors will be your BN Staff and in your senior Officer positions.

As an underclassman with JROTC experience you might be placed in a Team Leader slot, but you might not get any leadership position at all until your Junior year. Keep in mind that there will be those Cadets with prior Active or Reserve duty. Since JROTC is a citizenship program and ROTC is an Officer commissioning source the goal is totally different.

If you want a specific branch or whether you go Active Duty or not then you need to keep a high GPA and stay on top of your ROTC program's Order of Merit List (OML). This usually consists of your GPA, PT score, and Leadership ability (this is evaluted during your leadership labs and your training at Ft. Lewis.)

Hopefully that helps.

[Drill for life]

Congratulations RLM10_2_06. I hope you find it enjoying. I just have two questions:
1. Are you going to participate in Ranger/Ranger Challenge, as a member/commander of a AJROTC Raider team they are a intimidating bunch.
2. What branch of the US Army do you want to be in (infantry, Army, Ordnance etc.)?

[RLM10_2_06]

1) Yes, I'm joining the Rangers. I'm also going to be the TAC officer for the drill team (Basically, the manager of sorts; not the commander, but the one who fixes everything).

2) I'm trying for the AG Corps (Adjutant General).

[Everforward116]

Originally Posted by PhilK

The structure for your unit will probably follow that of a regular Battalion. You will have your Battalion Staff, Company Headquarters and other leadership positions.

Usually your Juniors are your Squad Leaders, Platoon Sergeants and other NCO or junior Officer positions. Your Seniors will be your BN Staff and in your senior Officer positions.

As an underclassman with JROTC experience you might be placed in a Team Leader slot, but you might not get any leadership position at all until your Junior year. Keep in mind that there will be those Cadets with prior Active or Reserve duty. Since JROTC is a citizenship program and ROTC is an Officer commissioning source the goal is totally different.

If you want a specific branch or whether you go Active Duty or not then you need to keep a high GPA and stay on top of your ROTC program's Order of Merit List (OML). This usually consists of your GPA, PT score, and Leadership ability (this is evaluted during your leadership labs and your training at Ft. Lewis.)

Hopefully that helps.

Everything Phil here applies, the only addition I can think of comes to the Order of Merit List (OML). The time this REALLY matters comes to your junior year, because on the normal commissioning track you'll attend LDAC (Leader Development and Assessment Course) during the summer between your junior and senior year. This is where you will be stacked against not only your fellow cadets in your schools program, but all the cadets in the nation. Its important to do as well as possible here, because this is where the Army looks at you to decide where you fit in the big scheme of things.

[PhilK]

One point of clarification. You are joining the Range Challange team, NOT the Rangers. World of difference.

My school had a Range Challange team, and we also had some prior service Rangers (Tabbed, not Ranger BN).

[mtnsldr]

Ranger Challenge, but yes, you better refer to it as RANGER CHALLENGE, not the RANGERS.

The difference nearly got a buddy beat to death at a bar one night.

[C./Fields]

Originally Posted by mtnsldr

Ranger Challenge, but yes, you better refer to it as RANGER CHALLENGE, not the RANGERS.

The difference nearly got a buddy beat to death at a bar one night.

...I can definitely imagine that happening