ROTC: Educating Tomorrow's Leaders


Air Force ROTC Cadets Run on the Beach Ever since ROTC arrived at Embry-Riddle in the early 1970s, it has enjoyed a receptive environment, phenomenal growth, and many successes.

The university's AFROTC program is the largest in the nation and produces more Air Force aviators and officers than any other university except the U.S. Air Force Academy.

On the Daytona Beach campus, the Army's Eagle Battalion is ranked in the top four percent of the nation's 270 programs, and the AFROTC unit was tops among the nation's 143 detachments in 1999 and best in the southeast region for the past three years.

Understandably, the number of students in ROTC at both campuses has increased dramatically. With 475 cadets, up from 350 a year ago, the Air Force unit in Daytona Beach is Embry-Riddle's largest ROTC program. Its typical freshman class size is larger than the total enrollments of most other detachments nationwide. On the Prescott campus, Air Force enrollment is 255, up from 225 the previous year.

Army ROTC Cadets Train in the Campus Pool"We're getting so big our little tin building doesn't cut the mustard anymore," says AFROTC Cadet Michael Lewis, a computer science major in Daytona Beach.

His 475-member detachment is housed in a metal structure erected in 1972 as a recreation room for Dorm I, today's Doolittle Hall. The Army ROTC battalion also has outgrown the space it shares in a service building with the campus's receiving department and print shop. Fortunately, their space problems will disappear this fall, when they move into a building near the fieldhouse that the university is renovating.*

In recent months, Embry-Riddle has been involved in discussions with Navy ROTC Command about the prospect of bringing a Navy ROTC program to the university in Fall 2003. The renovated building allows for space for a Navy program.

The Army ROTC program at Daytona Beach has an enrollment of 140 students. At Prescott, 53 cadets are enrolled.

Air Force ROTC Cadet With T-37 JetYoung people join Army ROTC for the adventure and lifestyle and to help pay for their college education, according to Lt. Col. Dan Macchiarella, battalion commander. "Fewer students are coming in from families with a military background," he says.

"We get kids who are attracted by the reputation of Embry-Riddle and this detachment," says Col. Bill Hopewell, commander of Prescott's AFROTC. "They come from Florida, New York, Vermont, all over the country. We have a cadet from Nigeria and one from France." He adds that they're working to gain U.S. citizenship, which is required for the program's last two years.

AFROTC Cadet Jason Evans, an aerospace engineering major in Daytona Beach, says he was attracted by Embry-Riddle's reputation in engineering, the ROTC scholarship, and the university's aid package, which covers $2,500 of room-and-board costs for incoming freshmen with ROTC scholarships.

Army ROTC Cadets Inspect Their M-16A2 RiflesA university degree is a prerequisite for gaining officer status in the U.S. military. In exchange for four to five years in the ROTC program, graduates must give four years of active service. For additional training and education, their commitment increases two years or more.

"I'll be leaving here with my education and a guaranteed job," says Army ROTC 2nd Lt. Thomas Booth, an aerospace engineering major. "I'll be starting at a lower salary, but I won't have $40,000 in debt."

In their first year, ROTC students learn basic military skills. In their second year, they learn military and aviation history, values, and ethics. The third year is devoted to management and leadership education. The ROTC curriculum in the final year includes logistics, decision making, joint operations with other military services, and national security policy.

Work in the classroom is balanced with outdoor education. At dawn's early light, cadets in fatigues can be seen running on the beach or marching and doing push-ups on campus. Training includes rifle ranges, obstacle courses, and small group problem-solving.

Macchiarella says 75 percent of the Army's commissioned officers are products of ROTC. "This is good," he says, "because it connects civilians to the Army. It prevents an elitist culture that would develop if every officer came out of a military academy." He says six out of 10 Army cadets become aviators, mainly helicopter pilots.

-- Robert Ross

* To contribute financially to the renovation project, contact James W. Fogal, director of gift planning, at (800) 362-9285 or james.fogal@erau.edu.