Do you get Dog Tags in the Army ROTC program?

Showtime16

Feb 2, 2010 at 11:25 pm

Yes, you will get dog tags no later than when you go to your summer training between your junior and senior year. Often the case is that you get them as soon as possible though. As for the soonest you can contract it depends on what exactly you are doing. You can contract whenever you want and receive the stipend from ROTC. This option means less years served as an officer but means they will not pay for your schooling and you will have to find your own ways to pay. If this is the case then you will need to have scholarships, grants and loans. If you want to get the ROTC scholarship then you need to apply for the four, three or two year scholarships available and get selected. Then the Army will pay for your schooling. There is one other way called SMP (Simultaneous membership Program). If you enlist into the Guard and then join ROTC you can go to drill and get paid for that as well as go through ROTC and receiving a stipend. The greatest benefit from this is if you went to basic/AIT so you can pull GI benefits and state tuition. This means you have to find time to go to Basic and AIT but it normally means you will be a step ahead of your peers in ROTC and become one of the top cadets. This is helpful due to the fact that as officer we dont get to pick our branch. Its picked for us. The hardest branches to get are Infantry, Armor, and aviation. So in order to get those you need to have a really good GPA, Good results on all your training, and a lot of extracurricular to ensure you get the branch you want. The only drawback to SMP is that you cant have a scholarship through ROTC at the same time. You either have to take the scholarship and say goodbye to the Guard or say no to the scholarship and use state tuition assistance and the GI Bill to help pay for college. Best best is to go talk with an ROTC and NG recruiter. Good Luck.