About ROTC

Army ROTC is an elective curriculum for degree-seeking students focused on helping cadets develop the leadership and management skills needed to become an Army Officer or have a successful civilian career.

Unlike traditional college management courses, student cadets in ROTC learn through a unique program that involves both classroom and live situations. The curriculum is divided into two phases: Basic Course and Advanced Course.

The Basic Course focuses on Army history, organization and structure. The Advanced Course focuses on tactical operations, military instruction, as well as advanced techniques of management, leadership and command.

Freshmen and sophomores can enroll in the ROTC Basic Course without any obligation to join the Army.

Upon graduation, cadets who complete all ROTC requirements may be commissioned second lieutenants and serve in the Active Duty Army, Army National Guard or Army Reserve.

FIU Army ROTC is a member of the Southern Strike Battalion. Officially activated in 1996, it is one of the largest battalions in the country.

ROTC History

Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps was founded in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson with the signing of the National Defense Act. It marked the first time military training on college campuses was under one federally controlled program. About 50,000 men who had received some military training on a college campus served during World War I.

Since then, Army ROTC has become the foremost officer-producing entity in the U.S. military, boasting a record of more than 600,000 men and women. Among them are two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, seven Army chiefs of staff, two cabinet secretaries and a sitting Supreme Court associate justice.