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Air Force ROTC... anyone have kids doing this???


JFSinIL
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DS is considering it - had a chat with some uniformed students at the open house at one college Saturday. They were telling ds how the Air Force would do Lasik (SP?) for free to fix his vision and/or pay for contacts and ds got all excited. They also told him that, sure, there were LOTS of History and Pol. Sci majors in ROTC....

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DS is considering it - had a chat with some uniformed students at the open house at one college Saturday. They were telling ds how the Air Force would do Lasik (SP?) for free to fix his vision and/or pay for contacts and ds got all excited. They also told him that, sure, there were LOTS of History and Pol. Sci majors in ROTC....

 

this is one of the things we were looking at for Alex. Lori, where are you? (Her dh is retired AF and very involved with AFROTC).

 

I do remember her saying that they like to give out the three year scholarships - so recipient has already proved him/her self as able to do college level work.

 

And there is a rather formidable sounding entrance test - but don't know how hard it really is. Very long when I looked at the web site.

 

The USAFA will also do braces and corrective eye surgery once you are a junior (2nd class). I understand they do RPK, not LASIK (I think these are different. In fact, I think LASIK is discouraged (maybe even not allowed) at the Academy. I am still learning!)

 

kate in seattle

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  • 2 weeks later...

He applied before freshman year for scholarship with AFROTC to use at Cedarville Univ., a strong academic Christian school in Ohio. He was offered the highest they had for a non-technical major. He is a poli sci major. Wants to study law, and work in JAG corp.

They offered either a full 4-yr at state school of choice or 15,000 per year for three years at private, etc.

So he converted to the 3 yr one - and yes had to join AFROTC for the freshman year even though not being covered financially. (however, his academic scholarship, debate schol., and other grants, etc. helped us w/that first year, and those continue through the following years, to help make the difference this school costs)

There are full scholarships for all four years for technical (medical, math, engineering, etc.) majors. I don't know how competetive it is to get those.

 

My son this year being a junior has had MUCH more responsiblity on him w/the ROTC detachment, many more demands. But he's been active w/debate (as I mentioned) and also Model UN at the school, so he has other activities. If someone doesn't have a lot of other activities, he might not feel as demanded upon in those upper years, perhaps.

 

Did you have any specific questions you needed answered? I'd be happy to help. I have heard, by the way, from knowing people that have kids in the AF academy, that the AF will not necessarily just "do surgery" or cover it for the student in all cases. It's really a case by case basis. And if your child's vision is not up to par, it really depends on what KIND of correction he requires that will determine whether he would be considered for surgery/flying at all. I also know there are other hoops to jump through for flying, if that is what your child is interested in. There are many other tests and criteria.

 

HTH! Please feel free to send other questions.

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My DH just retired from the USAF after 22 years. He spent his last four years as the AFROTC commander at East Carolina University. :) Before that, he was the Chief of Recruiting for AFROTC at the headquarters in Maxwell AFB (he launched afrotc.com), and he was a regional director for admissions for MS/AL stationed at MS State University. Oh, and we met when we were both cadets...so yes, we know a thing or two about Air Force ROTC!

 

Cadets have NO medical benefits at all. The Air Force will NOT do any corrective eye surgery or pay for contacts on cadets. After someone is on active duty, then they can apply for corrective surgery.

 

You can have corrective surgery (on your own dime), wait for a year to apply for a pilot slot, and then go to a physical, qualify for pilot training...have to be more than 21 years old, less than 26 years old...etc. LOTS of specifics limiting the situation.

 

I would say this...anything you hear from ANY recruiter should be questioned thoroughly. :) (That goes for every branch of the military!)

 

GPA matters. Degree field matters. Technical fields (like Karen's mathematics) are likely to get scholarships. But higher GPAs (no matter what the major) are more likely to get pilot slots! So, an engineering student who blows the GPA on hard classes might lose a pilot's slot to a business major with a 3.8 GPA.

 

Anyway, I'm happy to answer any questions you have, or you can email my DH directly.

 

Best,

 

Lori

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Cadets have NO medical benefits at all. The Air Force will NOT do any corrective eye surgery or pay for contacts on cadets. After someone is on active duty, then they can apply for corrective surgery.

 

 

Best,

 

Lori

 

You are speaking of afrotc cadets? because usafa cadets DO have medical coverage, but yes, corrective options (RPK, braces) are done case by case.

 

what i have heard is there are about 500 slots at upt for academy grads and there are usually about 500 grads who want to be pilots so it pretty much works out if you WANT to fly you get a chance. are upt spaces harder to get into (more competitive) from afrotc?

 

hope it all works out for your son!

 

and lori, thanks for answering questions along the way. we are very excited about alex's appointment. he flies down to COS for appointee orientation in less than 2 weeks. then inprocessing is june 25!

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Oh, Kate, I know he's excited! :) We'll keep him on our prayer list.

 

Yes, I was speaking specifically about Air Force ROTC cadets. Cadets are really just college students like any other college student until they are commissioned. There are no military medical benefits except while on orders for field training. Academy cadets are in a different situation.

 

My DH was an ROTC graduate who received a Regular commission, so it's not as cut-and-dried as regular vs reserve for Academy vs. ROTC. But in most cases that's true that ROTC cadets get reserve commissions.

 

Actually, although the percentage of Academy grads to UPT is higher, more ROTC cadets get into UPT because there are more of 'em. :) The way things are working right now is that if you want to fly, and you are eligible to fly, you will probably get to fly. Medical issues disqualify a lot of people, but even more people don't actually want to fly. 95% of the officers in the USAF are NOT pilots. :)

 

Lori

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