Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (R.O.T.C.)
The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) provides undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to become a United States Air Force officer while completing their college degree. The program, combining traditional undergraduate education with military instruction, will prepare you to tackle the leadership challenges awaiting the Air Force in the 21st century. Unless you're already on an ROTC scholarship, you'll have no initial commitment for your first term--check out the program and see if it is for you. While ROTC is designed to be a 4-year program, it doesn't matter how far you are in your degree program, or if you already have a degree. Even juniors, seniors, and graduates can join ROTC and pursue a scholarship. For details, contact the Unit Admissions Officer.
In addition to your regular college courses, you enroll in one AFROTC course per semester through the Department of Aerospace Studies. You will take the AFROTC courses at UTSA as a cross-town student. These courses, along with a four-week summer course, provide the framework for your officer training.
Leadership Lab: In AFROTC, we do not simply teach you about leadership, we give you a chance to put learning into action. The weekly leadership laboratory is a cadet-run activity, planned and carried out by senior cadets. Activities can include drill and ceremony instruction, physical fitness training, sports competition, and guest speaker presentations. Besides conducting leadership laboratories, you will help lead and manage the cadet wing to prepare yourself for your future responsibilities as a second lieutenant.
Field Training: Field training is an intensive, 27-day program that you attend in the summer after your sophomore year. This rigorous program involves physical conditioning, weapons exposure, and survival training. As an insight to expeditionary operations, Field Training is your opportunity to develop your skills and as both a leader and team member.
Summer Experiences: In summers you don't attend Field Training, you can do things truly amazing. Take hand-to-hand "combative" training. Parachute or soar in Colorado Springs. Shadow officers at engineering labs. Observe nurses at the largest USAF medical center. Explore space careers at the Air Force Academy. Travel abroad in cultural immersions. These are just a few of the free, voluntary programs offered to cadets over the summer.
To be eligible for this program, an applicant must:
- Be a United States citizen
- Pass the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test
- Meet AFROTC weight and body fat standards
- Pass the AFROTC Physical Fitness Test
- Have at least a 2.0 cumulative college GPA and completed one term of full-time college classes*
- Not already be a contracted scholarship recipient
- Meet the age, moral, medical and other eligibility requirements for Air Force ROTC
*(2.5 cumulative GPA for scholarship eligibility)
Even though Air Force ROTC DET 842 is located at UTSA, students from UIW can join our program in accordance with the cross-town agreement between UTSA and UIW. In fact, we have approximately twenty cadets that are cross-town students.
As a student from another university, you can apply to UTSA as a special non-degree seeking student for the sole purpose of participating in the ROTC program. You would attend ROTC classes at UTSA's 1604 campus and physical training with the cadet corps.
As a freshmen or sophomore cadet, you can expect to spend about five hours in ROTC activities per week, not including your travel time. The biggest hurdle for cross-town cadets is working out a schedule conflict between both universities’ classes. The freshmen/sophomore ROTC classes at UTSA are one credit hour courses; you can register for a Tuesday or Thursday class. For freshmen, the Tuesday class is 3:00-3:50 and the Thursday class is 12:30-1:20. For sophmores, the Tuesday class is 11:00-11:50 and the Thursday class is 2:00-2:50.
When you register for class, you'll also be automatically registered for a 2-hour lab on Thursday 3:30-5:15. Finally, you'll join the cadet corps for physical training twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Students attending the University of the Incarnate Word are eligible for the Hispanic Serving Institute scholarship and the In-College Scholarship Program. All students are eligible for Express and Nursing Scholarships.
For more information on scholarship opportunities, click here.
For more information about enrolling in the AFROTC Program, please call (210) 458-4624, or e-mail afrotc@utsa.edu. You may also visit the Detachment 842 Web Site.
