While Ohio University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program manages to recruit and produce some of the top-ranked cadets in the nation, the number of government scholarships available for cadets this school year has decreased.
The Army's ROTC program incorporates field and physical training into participants' college curriculums and provides a number of scholarships to eligible recipients based on merit and grades.
The Army allocates scholarships to university ROTC programs based on an annual budget, said Major John Hansen, the scholarship, enrollment and recruiting operations officer.
The budget changes as the federal government's priorities shift. Congress allocated more money for military because of the war in Iraq but has since made the economy a top priority.
Compared to the 20 four-year scholarships handed out for the 2008-09 school year and the 26 distributed in 2009-10, only 15 were available for cadets in 2010-11. A four-year ROTC scholarship at OU is worth about $80,000, Hansen said. OU pays for all scholarship recipients' housing, he said.
The number of scholarships allocated to any given program is also based on how well that program recruits. Since 2006, the number of cadets at OU has risen from 57 to 138 - an enrollment increase of a little more than 140 percent.
Hansen said the recent success the ROTC program has had at the annual Leader Development and Assessment Course has made it easier for him to recruit.
It helps me when I talk to recruits
Hansen said. I can throw some of the statistics out there and it definitely helps.
OU had three cadets finish in the top five of their platoon at this summer's LDAC, a five-week course held in Fort Lewis, Wash., that evaluates and trains cadets from all over the country who are entering their junior or senior year. They are evaluated based on fitness, leadership, field and navigational skills, along with a peer rating.
Cadets Katie Banks, Adam Barber and Matthew Magistri all earned overall Excellent honors by finishing first, second and fourth in their platoons, respectively. ROTC platoons typically have 35 to 40 cadets.
Sergeant First Class Denis Stewart, an enlisted instructor for OU's ROTC program, said the recent success is not only an incredible achievement, but also fundamental in drawing in recruits that will keep the program at a prestigious level.
We have exceeded the cadet command averages for the last ten years so you can compare that to any NCAA sport as far as them going to the national championships
Stewart said. (Recruits) expect excellence when they come here; to be able to reflect and basically show them that for the last ten years this program has been excellent ... people respect excellence.
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Pat Holmes
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LTC Joel Smith welcomes freshman Cody Miller during Contracting Day on Wednesday, Sept. 22 in Walter Rotunda. The event welcomed new recruits and honored members for various awards earned the previous school year. This is the 10th consecutive year that Ohio University's Army ROTC program has exceeded the United States Army Cadet Command Standard in the Leader Development Assessment Course.
