What do I do?

[HerdROTC]

I don't know if this is gonna make much sense to people, but I need help with stuff dealing with my ROTC Battalion. I just finished up my MSI year and now that I look back on it, I learned very little. Besides some land nav and a small amount of BRM, the only stuff I took away from the program this year was stuff other cadets told me. I have friends in other Battalions in other schools who could 7-8 me into the ground. With my battalion, 95% of the cadre effort is placed on PT. I understand that PT is important and that the Army holds it in high esteem, but maxing pushups isn't gonna save yer ass in the future. In talking to some of the MSIV's getting ready to commission, they feel they are "minimaly prepared" to enter the real army. I am going to be the cadet in charge of the MS II class this fall and I was thinking of going to my instructor and seeing if there was anything I could do to make the year more educational as well as more beneficial in terms of stuff learned. It seems at time the cadre get bored with the whole idea of ROTC and half-ass stuff. I am not trashing my cadre in anyway, but it just doesn't seem right that I learned nothing in a sense of leadership stuff. Would it be smart to go to my OIC and see if I can change some things for my partiular class, or should I just endure the suck for one more year and wait till my III year? I don't know if this made any sense to anyone, but it's just frustrating to not have learned or experienced what I thought I would. Thanks for the help

[natedogg42]

Sounds like my AF experience...except with less emphasis on PT....

Besides having to MEMORIZE stupid shit....(just like the different MAJCOM locations, "core values", the code of conduct.......we didnt do shit....

fat chance i'll be back next year....

fucking AF......

I don't have any advice...well besides not joining afrotc which probably wouldn't be helpful.....lol

[Murtin]

The problem is, you're a I.. and the bottom line is that they can wait on you while they prepare the III's that need it... Now the best way you're going to learn is by getting as involved as possible... Join your Ranger team and you're PR's and learn from the II's and III's... they're gonna be your primary source of learning regardless of what you learn at lab... There's also nothing that's stopping you from looking over a 7-8 on your own... there's a wealth of information on the Reimer library

http://www.adtdl.army.mil/atdls.html


There's also nothing wrong w/ being proactive within your class and squaring them away, but don't go straight to your OIC.. that's a very easy way to piss off everyone else in the CoC that you skipped

[Ezmartini]

If you feel the need to talk to someone to make the program more effective, talk to the MSI advisor.

The best thing to do is get involved with everything. Join your Ranger Challenge team next year, and any other teams your battalion puts together. My battalion also has a Marauders class, and I think that I would feel the same as you if it weren't for that course. We covered battle drills and other infantry tactics (all without the 25km road marches :wink: ).

[Ponchspayback]

as bad as this sounds the most i learned was from being an SMP cadet. but this was cause my MSI and MSII cadre where from the guard. it depends on if ya want to put the extra time in to drill (or do basic and AIT). it will be slighty more diffucult than if you are a scholarship cadet. (at least where im from)

[Wes]

Ok look. MSI & II year is like a recruiting office for college kids to become officers. The recruiters (cadre) show you all the nice little fun things about the army, and they try like hell not to show you how the Army really is, because if they did that you would run away.... far far away. It suprises me they are making you do a lot of PT.

Anyway, you'll have 7-8 coming out of your ears your III year. See I had the same attitude you did, and then I went to Iraq for a year. I talked to all of my officers in my National Guard company and they all said the same thing. OBC or IOBC is where you will learn how to do your job in your MOS. ROTC teaches you a bit of 7-8, maybe sends you to Airborne school, and teaches you what being in a leadership postion is like. If you plan on branching Infantry then have no fears. IOBC and Ranger school will teach you everything you would like to know about being an Infantry officer.

Oh, and yes the Army can be just as ate the fuck up as ROTC. You wouldn't believe some of the things that have happened. To inform you a bit here are just a couple:
1.The Pentagon didn't know my unit was in theater until late April... we had been in Kuwait since Feb 16th and then Iraq from day one of the ground war.
2. The ADA unit we were attached to told us to keep our mags out of our weapons during the war, unless we had something to shoot at....
3. We were sent to war with pro-masks that didn't work.....

So ya, have fun and welcome to the U.S. Army. (ROTC)

[killernurse]

Sorry, but I'm pretty much just going to second what the rest have said. You can't really control the rest of the bn, but you can control you. Read up on your own, make your own little terrain model kit, get a topographical map, go to the sandbox in the park and make the map 3-D (terrain association + land nav), and conduct battle drills with toy soldiers. Join P/R and Rangers- they can get you squared away better than pretty much anything- and they encourage you to work on your own. Stick around here and look what tips others are giving you. They know stuff.

So while I admit the first two years (MSI especially) is frustrating, you can/will get through it. You pretty much have two years to soak everything up before you have to apply it. Also, if your cadre see you being proactive, involved, interested, and just generally a self-starter it will speak well for you in the future. So here's my advice- drive on.

[roger29]

God I love that avatar!

You want to learn things? Learn them on your own, easy as that. Ask questions, read 7-8 and ask questions! Do road marches, by yourself or on your own...get some rocks, make an HGAC...in ROTC you have your shitbags and your good guys...choose which you wanna be!

[neo]

And seriously if you are highspeed get into Ranger Challenge or Pershing Rifles. At my school one semester doing both of those and you were ahead of many of the MS III's. The Cadets who lead those groups are the best and they will be willing to teach you anything. Feeds into their ego.