by Tech. Sgt. Amaani Lyle
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
10/8/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- To obtain the right balance of skills across the total force, Air Force officials will begin offering alternative commissioning options for specified career fields, officials said Oct. 7.
Air Force ROTC cadets slated to commission in fiscal 2011 may volunteer and compete for positions in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management Integration Bill Booth.
"Cross commissioning is a force management tool which will allow us to right size active component accessions and balance officer accession needs across the total force, Mr. Booth said. "It offers the opportunity for some newly commissioned officers to pursue careers in the Reserve or Guard components."
Most AFROTC cadets programmed to be commissioned in fiscal year 2011 will be eligible and may begin applying immediately, he added.
Applicants should note the program's restricted career fields, Mr. Booth said.
Cadets majoring in computer engineering, electrical engineering and meteorology, cadets in the education delay program, graduate law program, or one-year college program of the judge advocate general corps and cadets in health professions and those with pre-health designations are ineligible at this time, he added.
For cadets graduating in fiscal 2012, restricted career fields may change, Mr. Booth said. After analyzing each career field individually, Air Force officials will determine the needs at that time.
Those cadets may start applying in June 2011.
For more information about the Air Force Reserve list, call 1-800-257-1212 or visit the Air Force Reserve website at www.afreserve.com. For details related to the Air National Guard, cadets should visit the Air National Guard Recruiting website at www.goang.com.
Comments
10/16/2010 7:59:09 AM ET This is the same as the Army ROTC has been always doing. They strongly compete for a very few active force slots and the rest commission in to Guard and Reserve. This Guard and Reserve option should stay permanent. I saw many classmates disenrolling in the senior year of the ROTC advanced program because they start a family or get a great civilian job offer. There are also many 2d Lt's that reluctantly go to active duty after commissioning because they hold a good civilian job that they do not want to leave and prefer a more stable GuardReserve lifestyle. I had ROTC class buddies who got flying slots in the Reserves and the Guard than they did not get if they chose to serve active duty. Nowadays are many officers that leave active duty to join the Guard and Reserve and make a civilian career as airline pilots or pursue a full-time ReserveGuard job so why not giving the chance from the start anyway.
E, PR
10/14/2010 1:14:41 AM ET Indeed Air Force ROTC allows many recruits into the program and is only allowed to commission so many. It's hard to determine attrition rates, so a better option is to allow those who make it through to commision into the Reserve or Guard than to just cut them loose, especially after we may have funded part of their education.
wigman, AirForce
10/12/2010 10:22:30 AM ET The problem isn't too many ROTC programs it's that due to the rotten economy people aren't retiring/separating at a normal pace creating lack of open positions to promote into and thus an overabundance of Lts and Capts.
Frank, Tinker
10/11/2010 9:17:38 AM ET Basically this is force shaping for the officers corp. Stormy CA is correct with keeping ROTC programs because of demographic and diversity requirements.
SC, Macdill
10/8/2010 7:05:21 PM ET The graphic is a bit misleading seeing as it's borrowed from a picture at an Air Force Academy graduation.
PB, US
10/8/2010 5:55:16 PM ET Jerry Air Force ROTC affords the Air Force the opportunity to recruit future officers from a wide demographic by having programs scattered all over the country. In fact there are some schools--ie the Ivy League colleges--where ROTC programs need to be expanded. There are many college students who had previously never considered becoming Air Force officers but after exposure to their peers in an ROTC program at their school choose to join. Closing programs unless it is purely on an individual basis because of under-performance would have a detrimental effect on achieving this wide demographic.There are positives and negatives to each of the main commissioning sources USAFA ROTC OTS. If it's a matter of the AF commissioning too many officers then it becomes necessary to implement internal controls. This program appears to be one of those internal controls. The AF is still training and preparing future leaders but places them on Guard or Reserve status
Stormy, CA
10/8/2010 1:26:54 PM ET When is leadership going to make the unpopular decision to close several of the ROTC programs? The Air Force doesn't need all these commissioning sources. The first step would be to close ROTC programs. The problem is leadership is too scared of Congressmen from each state to make this type of proposal. Instead they come up with an idea like this that doesn't solve the problem but looks like they have done something.
