Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps

Nearly 100 years ago, with the passage of the National Defense Act in 1916, The United Sates Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, JROTC, came into being. Under the provisions of the Act, high schools were authorized the loan of federal military equipment and the assignment of active duty military personnel as instructors. While, in 1964, the Vitalization Act opened the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps up to the other services and replaced most active duty instructors with retired members of the armed forces. As the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps first began it was more directly used as a source for young men to enlist as Officers promptly. Yet, over the years, the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps

Not to mention, cadets are required to wear the uniform of their JROTC unit’s selected branch once a week, in addition to any extra requirements that certain schools enforce, such as physical training uniforms and Battalion T-shirts. Mallard Creek High School requires that you wear a Battalion T-shirt on Wednesday, the Army JROTC uniform on Thursday, and a physical training uniform on Friday, all of which are for both a grade and to maintain unity as a Battalion. A week of JROTC at Mallard Creek High School for any cadet would play out as Monday and Tuesday being separate classes based on Leadership and Education, LET, level, drill and ceremony on Wednesday, uniform inspections on Wednesday, and physical training on Friday. However, there are exceptions to the schedule, which could include the exemption of a uniform wear due to school-wide testing, finals, or possibly community service instead of physical training one Friday of the

Yet, due to the increase in available knowledge school is sure to get harder and that may lead to some adjustments in JROTC’s program. It is possible that they may offer more flexible schedules to ensure that all cadets are following the ‘Students fist, cadets second’ rule. Which means that all cadets will have to make sure that not only have they taken all the classes they need to take in order to graduate, but also have at least a 3.0 grade point average, GPA, before they can take JROTC as a senior. In essence, the cadets that can participate as a senior are sure to graduate High School and quite possibly seek a higher level of education, more commonly called college. There may even be Battalions that allow their cadets to wear the uniform on any given school day throughout the week, as long as they have informed their Senior Army Instructor, SAI, or Instructor of doing so beforehand. It is also quite possible that the physical standards of JROTC will increase dramatically leading to more intense physical training schedules and healthier cadets with more trust in each other during team events, for example Orienteering, Field day and Raiders. However, hopefully there will still be various consistencies, such as the requirement to wear the specified units uniform once a week and drill. Some traditions simply need to be upheld in order for the program to still be named ‘Junior Reserve