ROTC Offers Many Opportunities to Excel
In Army ROTC, it’s not all classroom and field training. There are many opportunities for you to get to know your fellow cadets outside of class and increase your skills in a variety of areas. Learn more about these events and activities below.
Ranger Challenge
Considered as the “varsity sport” of ROTC, Ranger Challenge team members accomplish more before 8am than most college students accomplish in an entire day. Like other varsity sports, tryouts are required to make the team. Majority of training takes place in the Fall semester to prepare for the Regional competition with the ultimate goal of representing the Roadrunner Battalion at the National Ranger Challenge Competition held in West Point. Events focus on military skills such as physical fitness, foot marching, combat casualty care, land navigation and other technical focuses.
Color Guard
This group presents the colors at high profile campus activities and at selected events throughout San Antonio. A senior serves as the Cadet OIC.
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Memorial Death March is a 26.2 ruck march through the high desert terrain of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This march is conducted to honor and commemorate the heroic service members who were forced in the original Death March during World War II, sacrificing their freedom, health, and in many cases, their very lives. Priority will be given to Cadets based on APFT, GPA and organizational involvement. A senior serves as the OIC. Learn more here.
Army 10-Miler
Each year tens of thousands of runners and spectators come to Washington, DC to join in this race classic. Produced by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, the Army Ten-Miler proceeds support Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation, a comprehensive network of support and leisure services designed to enhance the lives of soldiers and their families. The race starts and finishes at the Pentagon, passing by DC landmarks including the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building.
The mission of the Army Ten-Miler is for the Military District of Washington to safely conduct the Army’s annual 10-mile race to promote the Army, build esprit de corps, support fitness goals, and enhance community relations. Learn more here.
CULP
(Cultural Understanding and Linguistics Program) This program allows cadets to apply for a month-long summer program to work with a foreign military organization, take a language course or participate in an humanitarian project in a developing country. The program’s objective is to create army officers who are more experienced in dealing with foreign cultures. Learn more here.
CTLT
The Cadet Troop Leader Training provides Cadets the opportunity to experience leadership in Army Table of Organization and equipment (TO&E) units over a three to four week period. Cadets serve in lieutenant-level leadership positions in active-duty units. Platoon Leader positions have a 3-4 week duration depending on the hosting unit and location. Assignments include units that are located CONUS and OCONUS. Cadets are assigned a unit mentor, and are provided on-post lodging and meals via a Dining Facility. This program is exclusively designed for MS III Cadets before and after completion of the Leader Development and Assessment Course (LDAC). Learn more here.
Airborne Training
Limited quotas for volunteer airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia, are available to cadets who qualify. Applicants must have passed the airborne physical examination and attained the appropriate score on the APFT. Successful completion of this training entitles the cadet to wear the Army Airborne Badge. The three weeks of training are divided into ground, tower, and jump week. Ground week concentrates on building individual skills, such as, the parachute landing falls. Jump week consists of 5 successful jumps. Learn more here.
Air Assault Training
Successful completion of this course allows the cadet to wear the Air Assault Badge. Requirements for selection are the same as for Airborne training. This 11-day school is designed to teach air assault skills and sling-load operations, improve basic leadership skills, and instill the Air Assault spirit. During the course, cadets face such challenges as an obstacle course, physical training, rappelling, troop ladder, rigging and sling leading, road marches, and evaluations. The cadet can attend the Air Assault course at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, or Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Learn more here.
Northern Warfare Training Course (NWTC)
Highly motivated and physically qualified cadets may apply for NWTC. The three-week training period is designed to familiarize the cadet with winter operations, to include a River Phase and a Glacier Phase. The rivers, mountains, and ice fields of Alaska provide a physical and mental challenge as well as tactical experiences in a mountainous region. Learn more here.
Mountain Warfare Training
Mountain Warfare School is on the slopes of Vermont’s Green Mountains. “Tough” is a good way of describing the winter phase of the Mountain Warfare School. In two weeks, soldiers learn to ski and snowshoe. They patrol through waist-deep snow, using altimeter barometers instead of compasses. They climb 30-feet walls of solid ice, perform crevasse rescues, and learn survival skills. Learn more here.