ROTC and fraternities
 

I was wondering if fraternities frown upon the ROTC program. I am currently enlisted in the US Army and am considering a program called Green to Gold. It is a program that allows enlisted soldiers to be dropped from their enlisted oblications to pursue a education through ROTC and becomed a commissioned officer.
Any help would be great.Thanks

I'd like to know if guys do both fraternities and ROTC nowadays too. When I was at Auburn, a bunch of ROTC cadets were Betas and they were able to do both, probably because there were so many of them. My son would like to try both at Auburn in a couple of years.

I think it's probably alright...
 

SigEp legacy, first of all, thanks for serving our country, and congratulations on pursuing higher education! I am married to a former ROTC cadet and Pike. We went to a small southern school, and it was completely acceptable. In fact, about half of the battalion were Pikes. So, my thinking is, depending on the school, probably, it would be fine to be a part of both college experiences. Good luck!

Several of the Tekes and Sigma Pi's at my campus were in ROTC. Of course, there are going to be conflicts every now and then. Your chapter would have to know that your obligations to ROTC have to come first and you need to be up front about that during rush.

Sidenote: Several Sigma Chi's and other fraternity guys at my school belonged to the National Guard. It was how most of them were paying for college. We tried to schedule dances and special programs around their Guard weekends.

First off, I admire you for what you are doing and second off, I do not think one should have to do with the other.:)

When I started the local, one of our best recruiters was in ROTC and one of our outstanding members went to the Army, taught Dianne Sawyer how to drive a tank at Fort Knox, retired as a Full Bird and is now Commadant of Cadets at the most prestigious Military School not run by the Govt. in Indianna.

Conflict, I certaintly hope not as many of My LXA Brothers along with other GLOs have been important in any and all war efforts!

To edit and add, one of our Chapter Asvisors was head of the ROTC Department. We did not Initiate him. I wish we had!

When I was at Bama...
 

It wasn't frowned on at all. In fact, I had several brothers that were in Air Force and Army ROTC. The only problem that I remember was scheduling conflicts during the pledge semester but those were few and far between. Although it's been over 20 years, I don't think that attitude has changed that much at Bama.

I know this thread's about ROTC and fraternities, but I have to say that I'm so amazed by the growing number of sorority women who also commit their time to ROTC. There's a list of sisters serving in the military on the sisters-only portion of the website, and it seems like the list grows every year.

Several years ago, we extended a bid to a girl who told us up front that she was in the Army ROTC program. We could tell she was very enthusiastic about joining the sisterhood, but she did express concern about how some of her ROTC weekends would conflict with chapter events. We knew her obligations to that came first, so we eventually worked around it. Even though she couldn't fulfill all sorority obligations, she put extra effort in the ones she could attend.

My chapter's a smaller one, so it was easy for her and for us. I can only imagine how it'd be like for the girls who come from chapters with packed calendars!

Oh yes, that still happens in my chapter although not as much as in the 1990s. Back in the early 90s, we had a lot of guys in ROTC.

I can't imagine a fraternity frowning on prospective members' involvement with ROTC. If I were going through rush, I'd keep looking if I ran across a fraternity with a negative attitude towards ROTC.

Carnation, your son should have no trouble doing both at Auburn.

Oh, good! He really thinks he'd like to be a naval engineer.

Thanks for the info!

Considering my fraternity's history (founded at VMI), I can't imagine we wouldn't support a brother in ROTC. My chapter had a couple of them. I knew an ACACIA who was in ROTC.

Thank you for your support SCbelle. It means more than you will ever know.
I am planning on attending the Univ. of Kansas. Does anyone know if the Greek life there is ROTC friendly?

You might want to look at the Sigma Nu recolonization. I understand it's staring back up very soon. They'll be very friendly to ROTC as our organization's origins were at a military academy. We hold the military in very high regards. Also, if you are involved with a colony, you'll have a great deal more influence as to who they are friendly with/supportive of.

Best of luck.

I think we can't state it enough how much it means to all of us for your service to this country. Thank you times a million and counting. I'm pretty sure any fraternity would be honored to have you as a brother, SigEp included wink wink :]

Once again, thank you for the support. I really plan on just getting out and going to school. I will be 24 when I get back to school. Is age frowned upon?

It depends on the organization. In my chapter's case, most likely due to our organization's military underpinnings, we were/are very welcoming of members of the military. I'd hope that wherever you go, because you've served your country, your age ought not be a liability. I can't speak for everyone though.