ROTC: The Process of Becoming an Officer in a Four Year College

There are many ways to become an Army Officer. There's OCS, Green to Gold or a traditional ROTC experience. Over 52% of all active duty commissioned officers go through the ROTC Program and more than half of them received some kind of scholarship.

Students will enroll in ROTC the same way they would enroll in any class, the credits will count towards their graduation (usually as an elective). From then on they are considered an Army Cadet. As Freshmen, they will be enrolled as an MS1, or Military Science level 1. They are taught how to wear the uniform, how to march and how to conduct Physical Training (PT). Depending on the different ROTC Programs at various colleges, they may learn anything from military history to Battle Drills. Each ROTC is a little different. As sophomores, or MS2s students will learn a little more of the same. These first two years are not necessary to commission, but 4 year ROTC scholarships require that students be enrolled for all four years.

Students may skip their MS1 and MS2 year if they go to a summer training called the Leadership Training Course (LTC), go through Basic Training or have three years of Junior ROTC from High School.

MS3 year is considered one of the busiest years in a cadet's life. They will go to more Field Training and be required to understand basic warrior skills. They will learn Battle Drills, Combat Water Survival, Land Navigation and Operation Orders. The entire MS3 year is designed so that the cadet can pass the summer Leadership Development and Assessment Course (or LDAC) which all cadets must complete between their MS3 and MS4 year.

LDAC is conducted in Fort Lewis, WA. All cadets from all commissioning sources come together and are placed into platoons. They will be evaluated on their leadership skills by a Platoon Training Officer and Platoon Training NCO during a garrison phase and a Field phase. This summer training is sometimes the first true military training experience that cadets go through and they are evaluated on things like their ability to lead their peers, their ability to work as a team and their overall attitude under stress. This training is designed to assess the cadet's potential leadership.

After successful completion of LDAC students are then put into a position of leadership in their University's ROTC Program. The MS4 year is dedicated to completing college and fulfilling all their commissioning requirements and honing their leadership skills by training MS3's to pass the LDAC standards.

The purpose of ROTC is to create leaders out of young college graduates - leaders that are ready to take charge of troops. Once commissioned as Second Lieutenants they must be ready to take over a platoon and lead soldiers who are likely older and more experienced than they are.