Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 109

ROTC

academy graduates. For ROTC
graduates, the competition for
a place in the active component
was intense.

Army ROTC and
World War II
During the years before the
Pearl Harbor attack, Army
ROTC produced the majority of
reserve officers. These ROTCtrained leaders made a crucial
difference in the early days of
World War II, when the nation
struggled to achieve rapid mobi(Photo courtesy of Pittsburg State University [Kansas] ROTC)
lization. In a 1943 report, Gen.
Pittsburg State University cadets hone their cold weather and team building skills in spring
George Marshall, then chief of
2015, at Camp Crowder, Missouri.
staff of the Army and a graduate of the Virginia Military
Institute ROTC program, pays tribute to these officers: however, some military and university leaders beThe procurement of suitable officer persongan to question the requirement that all able-bodied
nel was fortunately solved by the fact that
males at land-grant institutions participate in ROTC.
during the lean, post-war years, over 100,000
Simultaneously, antiwar sentiments resulting from U.S.
Reserve officers had been continuously
involvement in the Vietnam War were adversely affecttrained, largely the product of the Reserve
ing ROTC operations.
Officers’ Training Corps. These Reserve offiAfter World War II, all males in the United States
cers constituted the principal asset available
were subject to compulsory military service. Those
which we possessed at this time.16
enrolled in ROTC were granted deferments while in
Without these officers, the successful rapid expanschool, which enhanced interest in the program. In
sion of our Army would have been impossible.
1969, however, when the Selective Service conducted a
lottery that determined the order in which men were
Post-World War II Developments
subject to involuntary military service, ROTC’s popuAt the war’s end in 1945, the United States began a
larity began to wane. The new lottery method did not
period of rapid demobilization. However, the emerging
offer deferments for ROTC cadets.19
Soviet threat quickly sparked renewed emphasis on
Army ROTC enrollment declined precipitously
populating the officer corps with Army ROTC graduwhen the draft ended in 1973. But, on a positive note,
ates. The hostilities on the Korea Peninsula that began
during school year 1972–1973, female college students
in the summer of 1950 further increased the need for
became eligible to enroll in Army ROTC as part of
a strong ROTC program. By the mid-1950s, the Army
a pilot program. In school year 1975–1976, the first
ROTC program was producing more than twelve thou- group of women earned their commissions through
sand lieutenants annually.17
Army ROTC.20
The ROTC Vitalization Act of 1964 solidified
ROTC’s status as the primary source of active duty
The Establishment of Cadet
Army officers.18 The ROTC program of instruction
Command
was revised, and a scholarship program was institutPerhaps the most significant development in Army
ed. Cadet stipends were increased, and the potential
ROTC’s proud history was the decision to establish
pool of cadets was broadened. Around the same time,
Cadet Command. Formed at Fort Monroe, Virginia,
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