About
Vision
91¶ÌÊÓƵ Army ROTC (Wildcat Battalion) our mission is to educate, train, and inspire Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character, committed to living the Soldier’s Creed, competent in the basic skills of their chosen profession and prepared for a lifetime of excellence and service to the Nation as an Officer in the United States Army.
History
The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), as it exists today, began with President Woodrow Wilson signing the National Defense Act of 1916. Although military training had been taking place in civilian colleges and universities as early as 1819, the signing of the National Defense Act brought this training under a single, federally-controlled entity: The Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
Following World War II, as the Army maintained its large force structure in order to meet the threats of the Cold War, the United States Military Academy (USMA, or West Point) could not meet the necessary demands for officers each year. As a result, ROTC was utilized as a permanent officer training program. Today, Army ROTC is the largest officer-producing organization with the American military, having commissioned more than half a million Second Lieutenants since its inception.
Women have been an integral part of the Army ROTC since the first group of female officers was commissioned from ROTCs in 1976. Today, women constitute 20% of the Corps of Cadets and more than 15% of each commissioning cohort.
Today, Army ROTC has a total of 273 programs located at colleges and universities throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with an enrollment of more than 35,000. ROTC produces approximately 60% of the Second Lieutenants who join the active-duty Army, the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. More than 4% of current active-duty General Officers were originally commissioned through Army ROTC.
