After spending countless hours at home, it is no doubt that ROTC members are wondering what is going to happen this summer and the semester after.

Physical Training is now all online, and that is not the most ideal thing for members in ROTC. For seniors more specifically, it is with high hopes that they can pick-up their training during the summer.

Because everything is so unpredictable right now, the most ROTC members and military professors can do is hope for the best while preparing for the worst. Joseph Oleksiak, a senior public affairs officer had some answers for what might happen for ROTC.

“The main decision that they seem to be mulling over is to cancel Cadet summer training due to lack of time after the recent COVID-19 outbreak,” Oleksiak said. “This would leave out crucial training that cadets need the experience of.”

FTX and in-person training was cancelled, making cadets lose the proper training they needed before commissioning into the Army after graduation. 

“The current plan for the fall is to resume classes as normal and give the upcoming seniors class additional training to bring them up to speed with adequate training as funding allows.” Oleksiak said. “This would include a MS4 [seniors] centered FTX in the fall, along with our normal one, and would allow the Cadre to implement a training plan to bring our seniors up to the level they need to be.”

Incoming seniors would need additional training to catch up on everything, especially since they did not have the last couple of months of training from the previous graduates.

“There are assumptions to be made because the ‘Big Army’ keeps pushing back a decision.” Olesiak said.  

The main decision that everyone is muling over seems to be the cadet summer training, due to lack of time after COVID-19’s outbreak. However, cancelling this would put the cadets behind for the upcoming semester. 

Bridget Lin covers ROTC and military. Contact her at [email protected].