Re: You Might Not Ever Guess that these folks ever served in the Military

George Z. Bush <georgezbush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The link? Too much trouble for you, and only a day old? Last chance.

The URL Kevin gave has a typo; this is the correct one:

http://www.khsd.k12.ca.us/south/gied33/greg_underwood/JROTC_History.htm

The first couple of paras cover it:

"The Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps came into being with the
passage of the National Defense Act of 1916. The focus of JROTC was on
secondary schools. Under the provisions of the 1916 act, high schools
were authorized the loan of federal military equipment and the
assignment of active or retired military personnel as instructors on the
condition that they followed a prescribed course of training and
maintained a minimum enrollment of 100 students over 14 years of age.

At its inception, the JROTC course consisted of three hours of
military instruction per week for a period of three years. Any JROTC
graduate who completed this course of military instruction was
authorized a certificate of eligibility for a reserve commission to be
honored at age 21 (although this provision was allowed to lapse after
World War I as the need for reserve officers declined). When the United
States entered the conflicts in 1917 however, there were few resources
to spare for the JROTC program. Between 1916 and 1919, the Army
established units at only 30 schools. About 45,000 students enrolled in
JROTC during the 1919-1920 school year.

Federal support and assistance for the JROTC program was limited
between the world wars. Due to funding constraints and a lack of
enthusiasm on the part of the Army, the number of JROTC units increased
only gradually during this era. By 1939, 295 JROTC units were in
operation - not an impressive total for a program that had existed for
over two decades.

Federal backing of JROTC in this era was lukewarm, but the backing
of certain secondary schools was downright frigid. Many high schools
scheduled military classes and training at inconvenient and undesirable
times. Some restricted JROTC instruction to the lunch hour while others
gave it time in the late afternoon or early evening. Student
participation and enthusiasm suffered as a result. Shortages of space
and resources also plagued many units. Even so, enrollment in JROTC
stood at approximately 72,000 in 1942."

Tried emailing the above to you but the address (minus the .nospam)
bounced. Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 501 #5.1.1 bad address


Dave.
.

Relevant Pages