Air Force ROTC closing detachments next summer

  • Published
  • By Ann Easterling
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) --  Air Force ROTC officials are closing detachments at the University of Akron in Ohio, and Grambling State University in Louisiana next summer.

In the summer 2007, officials will close AFROTC detachments at the University of Memphis in Tennessee; University of Cincinnati in Ohio; Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark; and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The closures are primarily because of the small number of officers produced by the detachments during the past 10 years, said officials. This is coupled with a need to move manpower authorizations to other locations to support significant growth in Air Force ROTC programs nationwide.

The Air Force ROTC closure plan includes establishing cross-town agreements for the detachments closing in 2005. The University of Akron will partner with Kent State University, and Grambling State University will team up with Louisiana Tech University.

These agreements will allow current cadets to remain in Air Force ROTC. They also preserve the opportunity for interested students, now and in the future, to join Air Force ROTC and pursue a commission in the Air Force, said Col. Steve Wayne, Air Force ROTC commander.

There are no current cross-town agreements for the detachments closing in 2007.

During the past three years, the number of students taking ROTC across the country has grown by more than 30 percent; however, 57 percent of this growth occurred at 17 percent of the detachments, while 20 percent of the units saw enrollment either stay the same or decline.

To accommodate these changes, Air Force ROTC officials were forced to examine officer production at each detachment and make decisions to downsize staffing at some detachments and close others, while increasing the staff at other units. These adjustments are part of an ongoing effort to realign assets within Air Force ROTC, Colonel Wayne said.

It is important for Air Force ROTC to maintain the viable presence needed to meet its mission of producing new officers for the Air Force, even as the demographics of the nation's college population continue to change, the colonel said.

Air Force ROTC has grown from about 13,000 cadets in 2001 to 18,500 in 2004, and the number of cadets on scholarship has increased from 6,200 in 2001 to 8,200 in 2004. In addition, the number of high school student scholarship applications has increased from 8,500 in 2001 to 17,000 in 2004.

"Each of these significant changes was accompanied by increases in the quality of our cadets," Colonel Wayne said.

"Keeping our units and instructors in the schools and localities that produce significant numbers of qualified students is essential to sustaining the Air Force officer corps of the future," he said. "Over the years, all of these institutions have produced outstanding young officers who continue to serve proudly around the world in a variety of career fields." (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)