ROTC as a fighting force, if given a chance...

C

CO5060.20

Active member
If for some reasn the US is invaded, who thinks that ROTC/JROTC would be a decent fighting force in itself as their are more of them then there are in the real military. They are highly trained in marksmanship (atleast in New Mexico) and orienteering, and ARE the future of the military. They also have the leadership of current or past Military servicmen and covers all of the braqnches (except Coast Guard).
 
i dont think we would fair to well. because we all have the kids who are there just to get the PE credits or some stupid reason like that who would run at the first sign of danger. Also, up north, especially Massachusetts, the gun laws are to strict for them to have a rifle team and i think that applies to most northern states. Also, for JROTC, we are basically still kids, except for some of us, i dont think we could kill some one without having a mental breakdown afterwards of some sort.
 
SHERMAN said:
wouldent want to see that happen, they are not reall soldiers yet.
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We're not, JROTC definatly not.

ROTC maybe for Senior ROTC people, for AFROTC maybe some of the POC.
 
I believe something like this happened during the Korean War. The South Korean Army was being routed so badly that cadets from the Miitary Academy were given their comissions and sent out to fight like regular soldiers (basically lieutenants with the work of privates). They were slaughtered.
 
It's an intereting thought to say the least, but it wouldn't work. Write a book about it if you want...
 
I do believe that, at least with our unit, we have several cadets that are outstanding marksmen and seem to be strong both physically and mentally, both of which would seem like important attributes for surviving in combat...
 
Ok, I'll do a breakdown for you, my unit is probably one of the best physically fit, we have two officers that are active-duty Sea Bees. A PO2 that is a PFC in the Army, another officer that is gonna ship out to Great Lakes on the 2nd of February, for basic and then stay because of Corpsman School.

So we get PT'd enough, I PT myself almost everyday if not more often. But then marksmanship quals we are at a moderate level.

I might suggest that we have a class on basic military tactics and such.

Those of us in the Honorgaurd are especially vigilant and will fight, so we would be the core of our unit.

I have Field School Deployment this summer, so I'll tell you guys whether or not the Cadet Corps. can be good soldiers/sailors for a last stand.
 
First off, I am not degrading anyone. I am just telling it how it is.

Classes are the first step in a long process to becoming proficient at your job. Anyone can know the job, it's doing the job that is the hard part. I had 8 weeks of basic training and 7 weeks of AIT. You could say I "knew my job." I quickly found out at my first duty station that I was FAR from being proficient at my job. Basic and AIT only gave me the very basics to my job. THere was a lot of hard work involved before I actually knew my job. If I had gone to combat right after AIT, I would have been useless.

Read about the Hitler youth and you will see how young soldiers are. IN the book With our Backs to Berlin there is a story about a Sergeant Major who leads a group of Hitler Youth against the Russians. Although brave, the Hitler Youth did not fair well against the Russians. It seemed the Hitler Youth thought they were invincible and died very quickly.
 
That is a very good point, one in which I had not considered. I do agree that we in the program, no matter how physically fit or no matter how good at marksmanship we are, thats all we are, atleast until we put it into practice. Haha, proficiency may be a good an important piece to the puzzle. In fact, one of the Marine Corps Leadership Principles is to "Be technically and tactically proficient." Thanks for the input!
 
For one to be tactically we smart we all need to be trained in military tactics, which we are not unless you're the one reading field manuals everyday.
 
Would not be good because they do not have the correct training to deal with combat situations, the squad formations and the tactics needed for them to be an effective fighting force. They would only mostly be used as a last resort. The hicks out in the hills would be more deadly and annoying to an invading force.....

Semper Fi Do or Die
 
To their defence I would say that they would probably fare better than many other groups of young people. Hoever, they lack the real training even in the crudest battle tactics. I would assume, that if they were called upon, which would only haapen if the entire USA is under controll of enemy forces, they would learn by blood and improve quickly. Still, they would loose many many members in the learning process.
 
As a fighting force, the JROTC would be slaughtered. We're talking 13-17 year old kids, with almost no real training. Put it this way, if the US was at the point where it needed to put us into battle, there would already be a militia that you could join, with probably a better chance at victoty. And here, in NYC, where we can't have a rifle team :x , chances are things would go badly. Very badly. And as for those of you in here who think it can happen, no. No matter how hard you think you've been PT'd, no. Still kids, with little or no sense of what war reallly is. I'm not saying the majority of you, but a whole lot. Some of you may actually be able to put up a fight, I know only about 4, maybe 5 cadets that would be able to fight, myself included :roll:
 
Speaking as a guy who once wrote a fiction about this and worked with many other cadet forces, i have to say they would be slaughtered.
Unless they where up against a similar force or even just a conscript.
I mean if i had to go to combat I wouldnt take my lot into it , only one guy really who I would take in and that guy is a marine cadet.
 
The JROTC's would fair better than the boy scouts. At least some troops. My scout troop is almost comparable to a JROTC unit with a retired marine and now atf agent as scoutmaster and willing to give out his information on tactics and everything. If it came down to it, the senior scout patrol of my troop might last a battle or two if properly armed. If i was the invading force though, I would be afraid. Enter a borough in NYC and be attacked by mobs and gangs. Plus most police stations now have swat teams making urban combat rather interesting for the invaders.
 
out of my entire battalion of about 150 cadets, i would say maybe 10 of us would be anywhere near effective (myself included), the others would be horribly slaughtered, not even trying to fight, they would be running while the 10 of us try to fight back. i tell u what, if it comes to the rotc's fighting, we would be screwed beyond all belief, because there goes a large generation of kids.... :roll:
 
Maybe some of the DEPers, but not JROTC.

I went to the local base's EST(I think that's it) place and in one scenario I got 3 times the kills of any of the DEPers and other cadets in there. they got 2,1, and 0... I got 7
 
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