To consolidate resources, the ROTC programs of Capital University, The Ohio State University, and Ohio University will be combined over the next few semesters.
The consolidation is part of a consortia concept, also called corporate restructuring, that is being implemented by the United States Army Cadet Command across the country.
The restructuring has precipitated from recent U.S. Army budget cut-backs, which have forced all the commands to make changes.
“These are [United States] Secretary of Defense mandated cuts,” said Major Christopher Lowery, professor of military science and department chair. “When things get smaller, you have to kind of reorganize and reshape the organization to figure out how you’re going to do business.”
Lowery said that the consortia concept was in no way indicative of the disbanding of any of the Army ROTC programs at the three universities.
“[Capital, OSU, and OU] will still have independent ROTC programs,” Lowery said. “Although certain functions, including annual field exercises, will be conducted jointly.”
The Army ROTC program at OSU will become the center of the new consortium since it will handle many of the higher level managerial functions.
“There will be some minor changes in terms of administration,” said Captain Anthony Douglass, assistant professor of military science. “There will no longer be a dedicated position for a recruiting operations officer [at Capital]. That responsibility will be absorbed as part of the cadre mission at Ohio State.”
Army ROTC recruitment for the three consortium schools will be handled by Ronald Sargent II, the current recruiting operations officer at OSU.
Lowery said that Capital stands to benefit from the combined recruiting system.
“As a small university, we get most of our cadets in the program after they have already matriculated here on to Capital University. [OSU] gets the national draw of a bigger university,” Lowery said. “If a student is not looking for the 45,000 student experience, then they will be directed to Capital.”
The Army ROTC program at Capital currently has 45 full-time students, as well as nine additional students from other local universities that lack a military science department. Lowery said that the consortia will not affect the day-to-day of current ROTC students.
“There won’t be a merging that [the students] will notice,” Lowery said. “[The consortia] won’t affect the classes that are offered, or the frequency, because the [professors] are the uniform cadre, of which there has been no reduction.”
The primary goal of the consortia is to make nationwide ROTC programs function as efficiently as possible, in order to maximize resources and minimize expenses.
The budget cuts the Army is facing are mandated by congressional sequestration policies, which are aimed at balancing the federal budget deficit.
Under the current system, the funding restrictions levied by these policies will only increase each fiscal year. Unless other cuts are made to discretionary spending, the Army will continue to see funding reductions in the future, and cadet command will be forced to adapt accordingly.
In spite of this, the ROTC program at Capital is looking to expand in future years to better achieve its objective of commissioning officers for the U.S. Army.
