A History of the United States Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps

Tragic as it may seem, every generation of Americans, without exception, has had to go to war. Americans, as hopeful and idealistic about peace as any people in history, have been forced into war three times in four decades--twice in the last one. When a great nation must choose between war and survival, there really is no choice. It must fight. In the past we have misconceived the choice between preparedness and unpreparedness as a choice between large standing armed forces and no defenses at all. Inevitably, a peaceful people have chosen no defenses. In peacetime we cannot possibly maintain active forces large enough to achieve victory if a world war comes. Relying on large numbers of men in uniform when there are no active hostilities is a most expensive kind of defense. Is there an alternative? This question remained unanswered until the concept of a Reserve Force won public approval. It is true that this country has never had a long-term reserve forces training program, although George Washington proposed one over 170 years ago (27). It is also true that we have never maintained large standing military forces in peacetime. But still, our security demands that we have one or the other; our money and manpower limitations will not let us have both. The Reserve Officers Training Corps is the major effort supporting the Reserve Forces concept. The ROTC has grown slowly and at times wilted. Eventually it was revived in another manifestation only to wilt again and almost die. While this was going on a new arm of military might rolled out of a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio; flew over the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk; and grew to usher the nation into the air-age. With the coming of the airplane and its shrinking action on the world, came a sprout to the ROTC program which has matured into the United States Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps. The purpose of this study is to trace the United States Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps from its parasitic beginning to its position in the year 1955