Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (AROTC)

 

Founded in 1916, ROTC stands for Reserve Officer Training Corps. It’s a college program offered at over 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States that prepares young adults to become officers in the U.S. Military. In exchange for a paid college education and a guaranteed post-college career, cadets commit to serve in the Military after graduation and become Officers in the U.S. Army to lead other soldiers in all situations and adjust to environments that are always changing. They are inspired and taught to succeed on every mission through leadership and teamwork.

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United States Department of War (precursor to today's Department of Defense) developed a military program for training Negro college students. At this time, both male and female students were required to wear uniforms. According to the TAMU Board Minutes of May 22, 1911, the uniform for "girl students" was to be dark blue and made into a coat suit and the uniform for "boys" was to be of the same "serviceable blue material" and "with a brown campaign hat similar to that worn in the United States Army."

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After World War I ended in 1918, however, the uniform for male students was changed to olive drab to more closely reflect the uniform of U.S. Army Soldiers. Around this time, Prairie View was assigned an Army Training Corps Program to train Soldiers for specialized service. This program was the precursor to the Reserve Officer Training Corps programs that were officially established at Prairie View in the 1940s and 1960s.

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The very first graduates of Prairie View's "Panther Battalion" were commissioned at Fort Hood, Texas, in 1947. Since then, PVAMU graduates have earned commissions in the Operation Branches of Air Defense Artillery, Armor, Aviation, Chemical Corps, Engineer Corps, Field Artillery, Infantry, and Military Police; the Operation Support Branches of the Military Intelligence and Signal Corps; the Force Sustainment Branches of the Adjutant General, Finance Corps, Logistics, and Medical Service Corps; and Information Dominance Branch of Cyber.

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Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC)

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The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) was established by an act of Congress in 1925 to offer interested college students the necessary Naval Science courses required to qualify them for commissions in the Naval Reserve. NROTC units were established in 1926 at six universities. The Marine Corps joined the program in 1932, offering qualified midshipmen reserve commissions in the United States Marine Corps. The initial program was highly successful and instrumental in the Navy’s expansion from a manpower force of 100,000 in 1933 to over three and one-half million in 1945. As the United States became the world’s leading power, the requirement for a larger regular career officer corps for the Navy became evident. The Holloway Plan, passed in 1946, established the NROTC Regular Program, supplementing the output of the U. S. Naval Academy. In 1972, the Secretary of the Navy authorized 16 women to enroll in the program and in 1992 the first 120 Nurse Corps commissions were authorized. NROTC now consists of the NROTC Scholarship Program and the NROTC College Program, both of which afford graduating midshipmen active duty commissions in the Navy and Marine Corps.

 

History of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Prairie View

 

September 1968
The Prairie View A&M University officially inaugurates the NROTC unit on campus. The unit’s first Commanding Officer is CAPT Francis X. Brady, a World War II veteran and a member of the United States Naval War College.

 

May 1970
The first class of 13 MIDN commissioned from PVAMU.

 

May 1979
The Prairie View A&M University commissioned their first female Naval Officer, Wanda Leonard.

 

September 1978
The Prairie View A&M University has commissioned over 100 MIDN into the Navy and Marine Corps.

 

August 1992
The Prairie View A&M University NROTC became a member of the Naval ROTC Houston Consortium.

 

April 2003
The Prairie View A&M University Unit dedicates the NROTC building to Vice Admiral David L. Brewer, from the first class of commissioned officers out of PVAMU.

 

October 2018
Celebrated the 50th anniversary of the unit’s establishment.

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Prairie View was the first HBCU to house both Army and Navy ROTC programs simultaneously.

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