What is ROTC? Part 1: The Richmond Years

The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a national program that allows people who are interested in joining the U.S. Army to go to college while training for the Army. The Army will pay for a portion of tuition, depending on the cost. Room and board, etc., can be covered by scholarships, loans or however else students decide to pay for school.

ROTC cadets have a few requirements to be in the program. They attend physical training at 5 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, where they do strength and endurance training. They're also all enrolled in an 8 a.m. military science class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The cadets go through an application process that considers many of the same qualities that colleges do, such as grades, extracurricular activities and community service and involvement, said Lt. Col. Jason Garkey, director of the ROTC program.

Academics are highly stressed in ROTC with a 2.5 GPA requirement for Army scholarships. Students can participate in the program with a 2.0, but cadets said ROTC leaders would begin asking questions if a student had anything less than a 2.5. Garkey said cadets who needed academic help could talk to tutors, mentors and other resources available through the university.

Cadets also do community service, such as Trick or Treat Street. Garkey said they had a booth with an Army vehicle that children could go inside. The cadets ran the booth and talked to children and parents, as well as handed out Army carabineers. The cadets had a chance to use their leadership skills, Garkey said, and be examples of the benefits of ROTC.

The military science class that is required for ROTC students, and is also open to other students, covers building leadership skills and understanding how leadership works beyond tactics and techniques, Jeremiah Hencke, cadet and Richmond College senior, said. One part of the class was a trip to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Garkey teaches the class, which includes students from other ROTC programs at other schools.

Richmond is the host school for the ROTC program at five other schools: Virginia Commonwealth University, Randolph-Macon College, Hampden-Sydney College, Longwood University and Virginia Union University. Some schools come to Richmond for the class while others join via teleconference.

There are 175 students in the class this year and 135 cadets on the path to commissioning throughout all the schools, Garkey said.

Cadets also complete a Richmond education while in ROTC. Senior Fred Bryant is a business major and the other three seniors are history majors. Hencke said it was difficult to have classes, ROTC and a social life, but that the balancing act was basically another ROTC training exercise.

Both Hencke and senior Fred Bryant said the first two years of ROTC were mostly about learning the basics and becoming acclimated. They said junior and senior year were when time management was important because the cadets were given responsibilities within ROTC such as planning trainings and tests, etc. Time Management is a class offered during some semesters, Garkey said.

One of the most important things all of the cadets I spoke with said they had taken away from the program was the ability to manage time and be a leader. When the cadets finish school and get to their posts, they will automatically be in charge of a platoon, which usually has 30 to 40 soldiers, as well as all of the equipment and supplies. They will also have a set salary of around $40,000 per year, health care and 30 paid leave or vacation days.

Tune in next week to learn what happens to cadets when they graduate.

Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu