ROTC and fraternities

SigEpLegacy · #1 08-25-2007, 09:38 AM

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

carnation · #2 08-25-2007, 10:16 AM

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.

scbelle · #3 08-25-2007, 10:40 AM

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!

LaneSig · #4 08-25-2007, 11:30 AM

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.

Tom Earp · #5 08-25-2007, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaneSig

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!

SigEpLegacy · #6 08-26-2007, 01:11 AM

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?

AUThetaChi · #7 08-25-2007, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

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.

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.

carnation · #8 08-25-2007, 08:23 PM

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

Thanks for the info!

Kevin · #9 08-25-2007, 11:50 PM

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.

BamaPike · #10 08-25-2007, 03:52 PM

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.

#11 08-25-2007, 04:34 PM

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!

Pike_Cardinal · #12 09-13-2007, 02:15 AM

My big brother does ROTC and he is on my fraternities executive council

RU OX Alum · #13 09-13-2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SigEpLegacy

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

we've had quite a few brothers who were ROTC as well

there were some in other fraternites also, so I'd say overall your chances are good, especially if you are a legacy

RigTheSig · #14 09-14-2007, 02:47 AM

We're known as the ROTC fraternity on campus, CSTAFF is made up of mostly our brothers. There shouldn't really be to much conflict. ROTC on my campus is a hell of a lot more hardcore, not trying to step on any toes but it's damn near a corps of cadets, than most schools so I don't see a big problem for you bud.

SGT_J · #15 07-25-2008, 10:50 PM

Trust me, I was 20 going through rush, with a tour of duty in the sandbox to boot. There aren't too many fraternities that would turn down a guy like you. And the ones that do aren't worth pledging anyway! I will be contracting with ROTC in the fall to keep out of another tour, and I already know a bunch of the guys in the program right now are currently in fraternities. I think maybe 4 of the fraternities on campus aren't represented, and with good reason. Just do your homework on the fraternities histories and the guys in each, and you should be fine. Also, like someone said earlier in another thread, talk to the guys discreetly before rush, so they know your situation.