The Air Force and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at UA have a longstanding tradition of preparing leaders for various careers.
The Air Force ROTC Detachment 010 includes 80 cadets and seven faculty and staff. Due to the detachment’s size and excellence, the program can award many scholarship opportunities not available to other UA students, including up to 100% of tuition and detachment-specific scholarships to help cover room and board, attend private flying lessons, get private tutoring services and much more.
“Here at Detachment 010, The University of Alabama Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, students are pursuing far more than their degrees,” said Lt. Col. James Lambertsen, commander of Detachment 010. “Our program allows highly competitive students to complete their undergraduate degrees and earn their place along the Long Blue Line of Air and Space Force leaders by serving their country and achieving a presidential commission as an officer.”
The program offers participants a steadfast community of peers forged through professional military training events including physical training, hand-to-hand combat, squad combat tactics, parade marching and more. Cadets stay busy during the summer honing skills needed for their military careers after graduation including attending parachute school and learning to fly gliders and powered aircraft and survive in the harshest environments.
UA Army ROTC alumni, which include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Winston Groom and Medal of Honor recipient Col. Charles W. Davis, have become elected officials, Fortune 500 business leaders and founders of nonprofit organizations.
“Detachment 010 alumni serve all over the world, doing every kind of job you can imagine including flying fighter and bomber aircraft, investigating high-profile crimes, attending to patients as doctors and nurses, leading airmen into combat zones and in research pursuits, and supervising launches for spacecraft and satellites,” said Lambertsen. “It all started here with their choice to join our program.”
The Army ROTC Crimson Tide Battalion consists of 168 cadets and 13 faculty and staff. The program has produced more than 70 general officers and the first female to graduate from Special Forces Combat Dive School.
“The Army ROTC Crimson Tide Battalion is a strong, high-performing support network of UA students,” said Dan Gronke, enrollment and scholarship officer with the Army ROTC. “Aside from offering scholarships and support to help offset college debt, participants have the opportunity to serve our nation, learn to be a leader and set their resume apart from their peers.”
Students can enroll with Army ROTC during their freshman and sophomore years to learn the skills and tactics required to be an Army officer without any obligation. A cadet’s junior and senior years consist of developing skills through training, field exercises and leadership labs.
UA Army ROTC alumni, which include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Winston Groom and Medal of Honor recipient Col. Charles W. Davis, have become elected officials, Fortune 500 business leaders and founders of nonprofit organizations.
‘The first time in a military helicopter is going to be emotional for anyone.’
See a glimpse of the type of hands-on training Army ROTC cadets undertake at UA.