Hey I am thinking about going through the ROTC program through the choice college that I want to go to. But I am going to be enlisting in the Army this summer and going to BCT. And I am only a Junior in Highschool right now. So I heard that I wont have to take the first 2 years of the ROTC program? I was just wondering what are some of the basic jobs of 2nd LT's in general in the Army? Or maybe even from a MP standpoint? Thanks for the help!

OK there are a lot of questions in there...

1st as far as ROTC is concerned, I am assuming by enlisting int he Army you mean you are going to enter the guard and complete your Intial enlistment training under the split option, which means Basic this summer and AIT next summer. If that is the case you would then do ROTC as an SMP cadet. This means Simultaneous Membership Program. In this program you will be working towards you're degree as a cadet but will "belong" to your NG unit. The exact benefits differ from state to state and your Career Conselor and the Scholarship POC at the school you are looking at can help you better than I can on the specifics.

As far as what classes you will need to take that is little less clear. The biggest thing that decides what ROTC classes you are taking is when you will graduate. Since you will have a limited number of credits (AP/CLEP) when you enter the program you will more than likely be in School for 4 years and as such take the same freshman and sophmore ROTC classes as everyone else. This isn't to say that after BCT and AIT they won't seem like a joke but the issue here is keeping you with the same cadets you will be attending LDAC with. LDAC is a month long course all Cadets attend between their Junior and Senior years.

Somethign to keep in mind about doing ROTC as an SMP cadet is that if your unit is activated and sent somewhere, you go with them. There are a few guys in my program that finally finishing school about 2 years later than they expected because of a deployment.

Now to address the question about jobs in the Army for 2LTs...

That is a loaded question...

Again the biggest differenece comes down to what you plan on doing. If you want to stay in the National Guard or Reserves, you will have a pretty good chance of seeing what the officers do when you drill. Also you will be able to know what "branch" you will have once you commission, as it will decided depending on what slots are availible in your unit.

If you decide to go Active you will need to complete the accession process. This is where the Army decides for you what job they want you to do. That can be anything from Infantry to Finance. That issue is many years away from you at this point but remember that you won't get to decide and have that job gauaranteed. You need to be willing to take your commission and go forth and do as assigned.

The jobs of most 2LTs in the Army are those of Platoon leaders in the Combat Arms and with some of the other Combat Service Support branches. You also can be made Company XO, or fill staff positions at BN and BDE levels. This all depends on what branch you get and where you end up.

I was trying to explain this to a family member the other day about the difference between Enlisted, NCOs, and Officers. The best anolgy I could come up with was one of the factory setting. The Enlisted guys are the line workers, doing a specified task, almost no more responsibility than that. The NCOs are the foremen and shift leads, that ensure the line workers are doing the jobs completely and correctly, training new guys and generally making the factory run. The Officers are like the Managers. They are generally the overseers that have the responsibility of making sure the mission is met and that things are running safely and smoothly and that the foremen (NCOs) have what they need to get the job done.

The best way to understand what an officer does is to work with one. Once you get to your unit, talk to the 2LT and 1LTs and ask them about their jobs. Explain what your plans are and they should be more than happy to take a few minutes and talk to you.

Good luck with BCT and don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have them.

Something Dog robber forgot to mention was to let NCOs handle their business, they train the Soldiers, Lead the Soldiers and know the Soldiers... Make sure if you become a PL Leader you have a good relationship with your PL Sgt, because bad communication between you two will fail mission accomplishment, you'll understand, due to the reason that you will be enlisted before you get commissioned! and you might change your mind once enlisted! Just do the right thing and as a PL Leader (Junior Officer) learn all you can from the PL Sgt, thats part of their job to advice and train young LTs! Good luck enjoy Boot Camp!

quote:

Originally posted by Dog Robber:
If you decide to go Active you will need to complete the accession process. This is where the Army decides for you what job they want you to do. That can be anything from Infantry to Finance. That issue is many years away from you at this point but remember that you won't get to decide and have that job gauaranteed. You need to be willing to take your commission and go forth and do as assigned.

This maybe off topic, but here is a lil advice from a recruiter. DON"T GET INTO ANY KIND OF TROUBLE WHILE IN COLLEGE AS FAR AS LAW VIOLATIONS GO. NONE AT ALL. You mentioned MP earlier which hints at MP as an interest of yours. To be an MP, especially officer, you need not have any moral issues. Moral issues only shorten the list of branches you would otherwise qualify.

Thanks for the information guys, appreicate it.

That part about deploying is wrong. If you are a SMP that has signed a contract with ROTC you are non-deployable if your unit goes anywhere. If anyone was deployed with their unit then they werent contracted.