MS III Year (Typically Junior Year)

No matter how you entered ETSU Army ROTC, you must complete the entire MS III year. This year of schooling is designed and used to train the cadets in these classes for Leader Development and Assessment Course (LDAC). The camp is a requirement for commissioning as a Second Lieutenant. The cadets in the MS III year are taught by the Cadre and the MS IV's who have just returned from completing the Advance Camp course.

At the end of your MS III year you will be ranked against your fellow classmates, and your leadership abilities will be evaluated. On the last week of school, MS IIIs meet with the Professor of Military Science or another member of the Cadre and review their Officer Evaluation Report (OER). The report describes your potential as a future officer and where you rank within your MS III class. The evaluation criteria consist of GPA, Physical training (PT) score, and your ability to show leadership when given a leadership position.

Summer

During the summer between your MS III and MS IV years, basically junior and senior year, you will attend LDAC at FT Lewis, WA. This camp is 32 days long and is the most important training for a Army ROTC cadet. Every cadet in the nation goes to this camp and is evaluated on three primary things. They are: Physical Training (PT), Land navigation, and overall leadership ability. The camp Cadre will write an overall rollup of your success at camp and your potential as a future Army officer.

MS IV Year

At the beginning of the year, the cadets create their packets. These packets contain your campus OER from the Professor of Military Science, your camp OER based on your NALC performance, your transcript, a picture of you taken while you were at NALC, and a bio sheet describing some of the highlights and organizations that you belong to on campus. This file along with all of those from the other 250+ schools are sent to Cadet Command. Once there, they list all of the cadets on an Order of Merit List (OML) from 1 to 4000+.

Once the OML is complete, cadets are informed of where on the OML they fall. Based on the number they receive, they select which branch of the Army they would like to join. (Click for Army Branches). Cadets must list all branches for which they are eligible to be assigned to in order from 1 to 16. Therefore, if a cadet has a low number, then they are likely to receive their first branch choice; however, if a cadet has a high number, they could receive a choice farther down their branch preference list.

Cadet's branches are selected based on the OML and the needs of the Army. "The needs of the Army" means that if the Army is extremely short of officers in the Artillery branch, more cadets from that year's group will be selected for Artillery. Most cadets at ETSU Army ROTC usually receive their first or second choice of branches.

By mid-November cadets will receive their branch results. Those cadets that receive a branch assignment in which they are not happy can appeal that selection through a request for a different branch. Once a cadet has received a branch, they will then list on a preference sheet their assignments. For example, if a cadet branches Armor, he could list FT Carson, CO, FT Stewart, GA, FT Hood, TX, and so on. Before a cadet receives his first assignment, a cadet must receive an Officer Basic Course (OBC) date. This information usually is received by the cadet a month before commissioning.

Commissioning

The ceremony for commissioning is a very important process. This event is usually held the night or day before graduation. The ceremony consists of three phases. The first phase is a speech by a General Officer. The Army ROTC program will have a General Officer come and speak at the commissioning ceremony about what to expect as a junior officer in the Army. The second is the swearing in and pinning of bars. The Professor of Military Science or any commissioned officer the cadet chooses can give the new 2nd Lieutenant his oath of office. After the oath has been given, the new Lieutenant chooses two people to pin his two gold bars onto his Class A uniform. The final stage is the First Salute. The newly commissioned officer receives his first salute from a NCO of his choosing. Most cadets will request the senior NCO at ETSU Army ROTC but can select any NCO they choose. As part of the tradition of the first salute, the new officer gives the NCO a Liberty Silver Dollar minted in the year they graduated as a thank you for all of the training they have received from the NCO.

For more information call the ETSU Army ROTC program, 423-439-5291.