ROTC Summer Training 1955 US Army; Reserve Officers’ Training Corps; The Big Picture TV-323

The Big Picture TV Series playlist:

US Army Training Film playlist:

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“How America’s young college man spends a summer with the U.S. Army.”

“The Big Picture” episode TV-323.

Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

Wikipedia license:

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a college-based program for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. ROTC officers serve in all branches of the U.S. armed forces (although the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard do not have their own respective ROTC programs, graduates of ROTC programs do currently serve as Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers). In 2010, ROTC graduates constituted 38.5 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Army officers, 1.8 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Marine Corps officers (through NROTC), 16.7 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Navy officers, and 38.1 percent of newly commissioned U.S. Air Force officers, for a combined 30 percent of all active duty officers in the Department of Defense commissioned that year. Under ROTC, a student may receive a competitive, merit-based scholarship, covering all or part of college tuition, in return for an obligation of active military service after graduation.

The U.S. Coast Guard offers a similar program to ROTC under a different name: CSPI (College Student Pre-commissioning Initiative). In addition, although the U.S. Coast Guard does not have an ROTC program, direct commissions are available for ROTC students at select colleges and universities, for ROTC graduates transferring branches, as well as for qualified military pilots.

ROTC students attend college like other students, but also receive basic military training and officer training for their chosen branch of service through the ROTC unit at or nearby the college. The students participate in regular drills during the school year, and extended training activities during the summer. Some of the summer training that is offered to cadets in the Army ROTC program are: Airborne, Air Assault, Mountain Warfare, WHINSEC, and other related schools.

Army ROTC units are organized as brigades, battalions, and companies. Air Force ROTC units are detachments with the students organized into wings, groups, squadrons, and flights. Army and Air Force ROTC students are referred to as cadets. Navy ROTC units are organized as battalions, and also include NROTC students under “Marine Option” who will eventually be commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps. Marine NROTC students may be formed in a separate company when the program includes sufficient numbers. All Navy ROTC students are referred to as midshipmen…

The concept of ROTC in the United States began with the Morrill Act of 1862 which established the land-grant colleges. Part of the federal government’s requirement for these schools was that they include military tactics as part of their curriculum, forming what became known as ROTC. The college from which ROTC originated is Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. Norwich was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy.

Until the 1960s, many major universities required compulsory ROTC for all of their male students. However, because of the protests that culminated in the opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, compulsory ROTC was dropped in favor of voluntary programs. In some places ROTC was expelled from campus altogether, although it was always possible to participate in off-campus ROTC…

Before a cadet goes through commissioning, he/she must pass LDAC between their summer of becoming a senior. LDAC (Leadership Developmental and Assessment Course) is held in FT. Lewis, Washington, where each cadet will be evaluated on leadership skills. The course is set up for a month of training with other peers and evaluated by prior servicemen.

Based upon the individuals OML will determine the options for commissioning and receiving Active Duty or Reserve Component. The higher the OML score the likelier a cadet will receive their desired position as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army…