The U.S. ROTC: where are they now?

In the U.S, ROTC graduates or non-ROTC graduates hold top position in the hierarchy of the US military. With no offense to our PMA grads. I did some web search on the current positions of non-Academy graduates ( non Wespoint, Annapolis or USAF Academy) that are now holding joint commands and are in top echelon of the US military.

This is to present a picture that in the U.S. ROTC grad or by direct commission in the US Armed Forces had already penetrated some of the highest rank in their military command. What a wish that in the future that our AFP will be professionalized like what is happening now in the U.S. with a non-politicized military and out with the revolving door policy we practice at present. In the Philippines we have only few ROTC grads that made it to stardom.

Notably to mentioned maybe are;

Pres. Ferdinand Marcos and Manuel Roxas from U.P.

General Alfredo Santos , CS AFP (1962-1965) the first 4 star General of the AFP and was a ROTC product of Mapua. Though UP Vanguard is also claiming he’s one of them.

BGen Carlos P. Romulo - also a product of UP Vanguard and President of the 4^th session of UN General Assembly.

Some noted products of U.P Vanguard that became CS,AFP are General Fabian Ver, Romeo Espino (both are said to be part of the Rolex 12), and Rigoberto Atienza.

Of course our very own UST Golden Corps had produced gallant men and women who had become Generals and Colonels, Judges and Justices, businessmen and successful career men in their own right both here and abroad.

And whoever had produced our website http://goldencorps.net before sana it will be revived again. So that we could also post our Hall of Famers, our notable alumni are the General and Colonel that we also produced. Hehe I also have a hard time to find as to how many dumbguards had been Justices, noted businessmen, politicians, Generals and Colonels. Maybe if we can create also a committee or somebody can do it for us so that we can also post it to Wikipedia. I mean when we already grew old, this is also for the benefit of our sons and daughters. UP Vanguard by the way has produced has 2 Presidents, 5 Senators (aside from Marcos and Roxas are Pendatun, Tamano, Kangleon, Peralta and Heherson Alvarez), 4 Lt. Gen, 2 Maj. Gen and 16 BGen.

The last PAAREE exam conducted by ARESCOM last April and May I don’t know if I overlook my browsed but have not seen any UST name on the list having taken the exam. Making us then, endangered species in the military circles in the future.

In the U.S notable ROTC grad are the following;

General of the Army George Marshall - who was in fact the 1st American general promoted to 5 star ranks. He gain the 5 star rank 2 day ahead of MacArthur, 4 day against Eisenhower and Bradley and 5 day ahead of Henry Arnold. Marshall is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute which has produced 265 General Officers and Flag Officers.

General George Decker - CS, US Army (1960-1962) ROTC Lafayette College

General Fred Weyland - CS, US Army (1974-1976) ROTC UCLA Berkeley

General Gordon Sullivan - CS, US Army (1985) – ROTC Norwich University

General Peter Schoomaker – CS, US Army (2003-2007) ROTC University of Wyoming

General Henry Hugh Shelton - Chairman JCS (1997 -2001) ROTC North Carolina State University

General Colin Powell - Chairman JCS (2001 -2005) ROTC City College of New York. So it was to be noted that after Shelton came Powell both ROTC grad who were appointed as Chairman, JCS and their tenure lasted from 1997-2005.

Except in the U.S Navy, all top current positions (Chief Naval Operations or CNO, Vice CNO, Pacific fleet . Naval Forces Europe etc.), are being held by graduates of U.S Naval Academy. But of the 10 Unified Commands, 4 are held by ROTC grad or by direct commission. These are;

General William E. "Kip" Ward (US Army) - commissioned into the infantry in 1971 and a graduate of B.A. in Political Science from Morgan State University. A black American , the first and current Commander, U.S. Africa Command.

General Bantz John Craddock (US Army Armor) - direct commission a graduate of West Virginia University. Current Commander, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) for NATO and the commanding officer of Allied Command Operations (ACO).

General James N. Mattis, USMC - is the current Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command(USJFCOM) and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation for NATO. By direct commission and a graduate of Central Whasington University.

General Victor Eugene "Gene" Renuart Jr., USAF - is the current Commander, United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Direct commission and a graduate of Indiana University.

The current Joint Vice CS General James E. "Hoss" Cartwright, USMC – by direct commission and a graduate of University of Iowa.

In the Army, except for CS, US Army (Gen. Casey) and TRADOC (Gen. Wallace) all sensitive positions are being held by ROTC grad.

General Peter W. Chiarelli - commissioned as 2ndLt., a graduate of Seattle University, current Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.

General Carter Ham - current Commanding General U.S. Army Europe, a graduate of ROTC John Carrol University (Ohio).

General Charles C. Campbell - U.S Army and current Commanding General, United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). ROTC grad at Louisiana State University.

General Benjamin S. Griffin, U. S Army - Commanding General, United States Army Materiel Command. OCS graduate, Fort Benning.

In the Marine Corps, both the Commandant and Assistant Commandant , General James Conway (Southeast Missouri State University) and General James Amos (University of Idaho) are non –academy grads. We also note that some Generals of the US AirForce had come from ROTC like;

General Bruce Carlson, current Commander, Air Force Materiel Command (ROTC University of Minnesota)

General Claude Robert "Bob" Kehler is Commander, Air Force Space Command , a grad of ROTC at Penn State.

General Arthur J. Lichte, USAF is the current Commander, Air Mobility Command, a grad of Manhattan College ROTC.

General Roger A. Brady, USAF is the current Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe. A grad of University of Oklahoma ROTC.

In US military we are now seeing major post are now being occupied by non-academy grads. Because there is no discrimination if you are a academy or non-academy grad. You are promoted by your skills and merit. We predict that in the future it is not an essential for success in military profession if you’re an academy grad or not. But, as the Army saying goes, you can be a General like the Army motto “BE ALL YOU CAN BE”.

Our Kababayan, the second Filipino an Ilocano from Cagayan Valley to gain a star rank in the US military Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba who became famous for writing the Taguba report that detailed the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was a direct commission officer graduate from Idaho State University.

The first Filipino General in the US armed forces Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, another Ilocano from Alcala, Pangasinan (Western part near Zambales are Ilocano speaking) and a direct commission grad of San Jose State University may have summed up the success of ROTC grads or non-academy grads in the military when he told our PMA cadets in 2004 as

"The challenge is always seeking those opportunities that allow you to progress, that allow you to get better," he says. "And that’s what I did, that’s how I rose through the ranks, how I got all the right jobs, the right positions. I worked as hard as I could, tried to be the best that I could possibly be."

Francis B. Abat Class Ginintuan 87”