The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) will begin a new Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AFROTC) program for freshmen and sophomores in the fall 2024 semester.
ROTC allows scholarship and non-scholarship cadets to live as regular college students while pursuing their degrees. Once they graduate, they will be commissioned in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force.
UAH says it is working with Samford University in Birmingham and Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery to develop its AFROTC. UAH's program will be an independent detachment that uses Samford's existing detachment in an administrative sense as a "parent" AFROTC for the first couple of years while UAH's AFROTC is being developed. UAH's program is the first AFROTC program of its kind in the U.S., according to the statement.
Nicholas Anderson, Associate Director in the Office of Military and Veteran Programs (MVP), said, "If this detachment is successful, it will change the way the AFROTC program is implemented throughout the nation, which would allow the Air Force to develop more Air Force and Space Force officers and address the recruitment concerns in the military,"
If successful and spread to other universities, the new implementation may allow the Air Force to get a jump start among the other military branches, all facing a shortage in Officer and Enlisted recruitment. Although not required, many ROTC members also serve in the National Guard as Enlisted service members while they complete their degrees and eventually become Commissioned Officers.
Maj. Matthew Spinks and Capt. Brett Collins have been selected to serve as UAH's first AFROTC cadre and will arrive on campus in May. Spinks will come to UAH from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Collins will transfer from Samford.
UAH says that any current or incoming freshman interested in the program may find more information at uah.edu/mvp
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email Bradley.cox@1819news.com or on Twitter @BradleyCoxAL
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