For the first post on this blog, I thought that I would just try to tell everyone what the deal is with Army ROTC. Everyone has seen them- the loud, proud, full of themselves, star spangled kids in camouflage fatigues strutting around campus every Tuesday and Thursday. Or maybe you have heard us yelling cadences at 6 am. When people think about ROTC I think the things that come to mind are tuition and early mornings. Some people think that it looks horrible. They see us running in company formation and rucking for miles and think that its not for them.

These things aren’t wrong but they aren’t entirely true. ROTC is not something reserved for those kids who always wore combat boots to school, nor is it for former boy scouts, or the sons of military families. Anyone can do ROTC. The only thing a college student needs to succeed in ROTC is at least some desire to serve, a little bit of work ethic, and an alarm clock.

ROTC at its most basic level is a program to train officers for the army while they attend a university. For one to understand what the Reserve Officer Training Corps is, they need some context to the basic organization and function of the army. The soldiers that are in charge of the operation of units and groups of soldiers are the officers. To become an officer, a person must be fit to serve, have a bachelor’s degree, and have completed the necessary training and education to lead soldiers. This training can be completed in three ways; Officer Candidate School, West Point, or ROTC at a university.

When one joins ROTC, theres is no commitment to serve. One only commits to the program when they “contract.” Contracting is when a cadet hands over all their administrative and biographical documents, having certified that they are physically fit to serve, and sign the dotted line saying that upon completion of their bachelor’s degree, they will either serve in the Army either Active Duty or in the Reserve or National Guard Components. For their commitment to serve, the Army will pay a part or all of a students tuition.

Now, yes we wake up early. Monday through Friday report time for PT (physical training) is typically 0550. This was a hard adjustment for every cadet but something that surprised me, was how used to it you get. Before long, it becomes easy to wake up that early. To be completely honest, your sleep schedule gets disturbed by ROTC. Depending on the major, it can be a feat of time management to do the program and get adequate sleep.. But believe me, before long, you will surpass sleep and not even need it.

The day to day life of a cadet is just like anyone else’s at Penn State with just a few exceptions besides PT of course. We take Army 101 classes, two days a week we wear our uniforms, and we do training on Thursdays, and a training weekend once a semester.

Everything I have said about ROTC probably makes it sound daunting. It seemed like that for me at first too. The truth is, ROTC is an extremely enriching experience I never regret my choice to join. The fun I have in the program, the activities we do, and the friends I have made make it something I love and I hope that the posts I add to this blog may persuade some people who may have been on the fence about joining.