Student members of the ROTC program at ASU line up for a drill on the Tempe campus. The U.S. Army had announced the closure of 13 Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, but ASU's program is still running strong. (Photo by Dominic Valente)The U.S. Army had previously announced the closure of 13 Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at universities around the country but has recently decided to delay these closures to re-examine recruiting methods.
ROTC programs at ASU were never in any danger of the closures, because the schools designated to have its programs closed were mainly in the South. The announcement of the suspension of closures came five weeks after the initial announcement.
Professor of Military Science Lt. Col. Daniel Roberts said the ASU Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC programs will remain open and functioning as they always have.
"ASU has no intent out there within Cadet Command to close down the Sun Devil battalion at Arizona State," he said. "Arizona State fully supports the ROTC programs at large, whether that's Army, Navy, Air Force, from Dr. Crow all the way down."
The University continues to support all ROTC programs, and Roberts said if he had to speculate due to the continued support and resources ASU gives the programs, he does not think ASU will be in any danger of closing these programs.
Executive Officer and Assistant Professor of Military Science Maj. Michelle Bravo said ASU has one of the largest ROTC programs in the nation.
"ASU is the largest university in the nation that's not a traditional military school," she said.
Commanding Officer Capt. David Price of the Navy ROTC program thinks the opposite of closures will continue at ASU.
"In our unit, we are not expecting anything but remaining status quo and maybe even some growth in the program moving forward," he said.
The recent government shutdown affected the ROTC programs with some civilian workers being furloughed, but now everything has returned to normal with the ending of the shutdown.
"After the government shutdown, everything is turned back on so we're fully operational again as if the government was never turned off," Roberts said.
Like all government programs, ROTC is fighting budget issues but the ROTC program at ASU should not be affected Capt. Price said.
"We're fighting like everybody with our budget and travel requirements and spending the money we've got, but for us as we are already slim, it doesn't cost much to make an ROTC graduate besides tuition and fees," he said.
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Joey_Hancock
