JROTC?

I recently heard about the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. I was wondering about the basic details. What exactly is its purpose, the requirements, etc...

I'm thinking about joining the Army or perhaps Marines once I'm old enough and decide I truly want to.

Thanks

Well, I can't speak much for Army, Air Force, Navy, or Coast Guard JROTC, but in Marine Corps JROTC, you are taught leadership, physical fitness, some marksmanship, discipline, and Marine Corps History. There are four years in the program, described as LE-1 (first year) LE-2 (second year) LE-3 (third year) and LE-4 (fourth year). We use a modified version of the Marine Corps ranking system. We start out as Cadet Privates, then move to Cadet Private First Class, Cadet Lance Corporal, Cadet Corporal, Cadet Sergeant, and so on and so on. The highest rank you can reach is Cadet Colonel.

JROTC stands for Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, but this in no way means you are obligated to join the armed forces when you graduate. It simply means that, if you accomplish all four levels of MCJROTC training, you will qualify for increased pay grade and OCS should you join the armed forces.

The requirements of the MCJROTC program are passing grades of at least a C average IN ALL CLASSES. Should you join one of your unit's competitive teams, such as Armed Drill Team (meaning you drill with rifles), Unarmed Drill Team (meaning you don't drill with rifles), Rifle Marksmanship Team (meaning you shoot air rifles), or Color Guard (do I need to explain it?), you will need to have no facial hair. If you are not on one of the competitive teams, you are allowed a regulation mustache.

In my unit, we do PT (physical training) twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. We do runs, push ups, pull ups, crunches, run bleachers, all the good stuff. On Thursday, we wear our Marine-issue MARPAT woodland cammies. If you are on a Drill Team or Color Guard, you are sometimes required to wear Class Delta Service Uniforms. On Thursdays, we also do inspections, tests on Marine Corps History and Values, and occasionally, PT in uniform.

Let me know if you want anymore information, my friend!

edit: One more thing! It is really, really easy to pick up chicks when in uniform!

Sounds..awesome!

What if im crap at PT? I can barely do any pushups.. haha.

Important question: how old do I have to be to join? I'd like to start when Im maybe 15.

And where do I sign up?

No worries, I was crap at PT when I first started, too. I'd recommend building your stamina and training yourself. AND HAVE PLENTY OF MOTIVATION! You can do anything if you have the motivation! A kid in my platoon who we call Blueberry (he was in AFJROTC. sticks, he gave himself the name!) has motivation like you wouldn't believe. He weighs nearly 350 pounds, but he still runs the mile and half just like the rest of us.

It's not really "signing up". It depends on whether or not you have it at your school. Luckily for me, my school had MCJROTC!

Do you have to be attending the school to join its JROTC course?

i hope my school offers it for the ARMY.

M14 double-taps wrote:

Do you have to be attending the school to join its JROTC course?

I can't tell you a definite answer, but I do believe you need to be attending the school.
I actually get a grade on my report card for MCJROTC. You're graded on PT scores, PFT scores, leadership, participation, tests, and inspection scores.

JARHEAD wrote:

i hope my school offers it for the ARMY.

Whatever floats your boat, my friend. I will say that no matter what program your school offers, you should still join. It will look excellent on your record, should you ever wish to go to OCS.

Okay I have a couple more questions. First off, this is a highschool program, yes?

Also, when you complete the program does it only help if you want to become an officer? Like say if i did JROTC and I decided to enlist instead of OCS, would it still have any benefits?

And lastly, say I do MCJROTC but I decide to go the Army way instead of Marines, do I still get anything out of JROTC?

Thanks for you help so far, it has helped a bunch.

Yes, it is a high school program, though it was featured at our Mid-High for awhile.

I'm not sure, however, I do think it would impress your superiors to open up your record and see you completed the MCJROTC program. This would probably mean you would progress through the ranks slightly faster and you would probably also become fireteam or squad leader fairly quickly.

I'm not sure about any benefits from the Army, but you will have outstanding leadership skills!

You're very welcome. I am just glad to see you are so enthusiastic about joining a JROTC program. I know a lot of people who are only in MCJROTC because their parents put them in there thinking it would straighten them out.

Alright thanks!

Yeah once I heard about it I knew I'd be interested. It sounds like a great program! Can't wait to join. Meanwhile, I got personal training to do...

Haha, sounds like a plan! I look forward to calling you a Cadet and rubbing my Cadet PFC rank in your face!

edit: I did want to tell you that I have lost nearly 10 pounds of fat and replaced it with strong muscle. since the school year began. If you are fat, you will lose weight. If you are skinny, you will gain weight and muscle. OOHRAH, SEMPER FI, DO OR DIE!

Few differences between MCJROTC and AFJROTC.

1: we wear reg "casual dress" uniform 2 times a week.
2: we do not(yet) have BDU's issued, but hopefully that will come sometime during the winter.
3: we are allowed to keep a REGULATED mustache while on any event teams(drill, color guard etc).
4: PT 3 times a week.
5: required to do several community projects, in and outside of school. Ex, we volunteered at a homeless vets event(by far one of the best things I have done in HS).
6: in my program we have a guest speaker ever 1-2 weeks. Most of these speakers are military, but so far we've had FBI, Lawyers, Law Enforcement, Army, Airforce(allot of them), and the (real) senior NCO of AFJROTC come talk to us.
7: our "class" work is all about Aerospace science(how to fly) and Aviation history. IMO two of the coolest classes offered in HS and JROTC.

My program is only 2 years long, I still get the 4 year credit though. Its a new "condensed" program, basically we treat each semester as a full JROTC year. Theres only 5 other JROTC schools like it in the country, so the other 99% will be 4 year schools.

For your branch changing question... I know for AF JROTC you get a general JROTC credit that is good in any branch, for completion of 4(2 for me) years you get 2 pay grades higher in the military. I'm 90% sure if we take ROTC in college we will have counted as taking a full year because of JROTC.

Hooah cadets! If your looking to joining JROTC remember that its not boot camp, its a relatively accurate perception of what military life can be like. If you want to get anywhere you gotta push yourself(especially in PT).

sticks

Thank you, sticks, for reminding me.
We do community service events as well. Some of the things we do include:

• security at football games
  
  color guard for various events, including some UNM football games
  
  security for school sports events
  
  work at restaraunts (cleaning tables, handing out free hot cocoa)
  
  we did parking at the Balloon Fiesta, as well
  

The competitive teams also take trips to different competitions. We have gone to Amarillo for Drill meets

You also have a district inspection, meaning you are inspected by the ranking Senior Marine Instructor for your area, or possibly a retired General. I have heard of Commissioned Officers coming all the way from PI to inspect us as well. Man, if you "Watch your language" up during a district inspection, you might as well turn in your rank insignia and your cammies.

What if my school doesn't have JROTC available? That would be a total downer...right now I'm looking on local highschool websites seeing which ones offer JROTC...

If none of them have JROTC available, is there any other options for joining JROTC?

If you live in a city, look into something called "career centers" or "technical schools". Most of the time if your home school doesn't have a JROTC program they will. I had to switch schools to a brand new school for my JROTC.

sticks

Okay, there's a couple close high schools that host Navy JROTC and AFJROTC. Not really what I'm looking for.

The nearest MCJROTC, the one I was hoping for, is a couple hours away.

The nearest Army JROTC, my fallback, is about 1 hour away.

I'd really like to go to the highschool with Army JROTC, but to me it's a totally foreign school... and I'd have to beg and plead with my mom to let me go there.

I sent an e-mail to the school to see if I need to attend the school to participate in the program...let's see what happens next

Honestly, DrummerBoyz95, you're going to have fun no matter what JROTC program you are in, and that's the most important thing.

Okay...I'll see how I feel about it later in the school year.

Thanks to Jarhead999 and sticks for your advice on this particular subject.

You are very welcome, DrummerBoyz95! OOHRAH, SEMPER FI, DO OR DIE!

Sweet, I talked to one highschool, and I might be able to do after-school classes -- when my regular classes end I can take the bus to the other high school. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

DrummerBoyz95 wrote:

Sweet, I talked to one highschool, and I might be able to do after-school classes -- when my regular classes end I can take the bus to the other high school. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

Congratulations, my fine ghillied friend! What JROTC program is it?

It's Army, run by an ex-Army 1st Sergeant.

Final plans still haven't happened yet, but my mom said it's fine as long as I can get there in time every day.

Good luck, my friend! I look forward to many friendly arguments over whose JROTC program is more "hardCorps" (hehe, I made a pun!)

Haha thanks, me too

I'll tell you how it is once I actually start, next school year.

Next school year I can take a JROTC class but im a LIL' confused about what exactly it is?
is it preparing to join the military? because I REALLY didnt plan on it.
what all do you need for a class like that?