Under the Morrill Act of 1862, military training was compulsory for male students at land-grant colleges. Although military training had been taking place at some civilian colleges since 1819, the National Defense Act of 1916 established the Reserve Officer Training Corps to provide training to larger numbers of officers who would be needed for modern wars. Land-grant colleges typically required ROTC for all of their male students. Graduates of ROTC programs were inducted into the Officers Reserve Corps and could be called to active duty in the event of a war.

Navy ROTC training programs began in 1925 and were the first to offer the scholarships and other incentives that are now part of all ROTC programs. ROTC programs also exist for the Air Force and ...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles