With joining AFROTC there are certain benefits that you normally would not receive as a normal college student. The range of these benefits can be from quite large to minor in magnitude but while you're in college these benefits definitely work to make things easier and more comfortable. Some of the benefits that you will see in joining the program are that pretty much from your first day off you are automatically apart of a significant group of people that are going to be there to support, mentor, and give you all the help you can ask for. From day one you have joined a group that will take you in and accept you allowing you to automatically begin to settle into your new life on campus. Within this program you will develop great bonds and relationships with the people around you. It comes from a lot of time put in together, accomplishing hard tasks and sharing the gratification, getting through tough spots together, and from knowing that often times you have to rely on the person next to you in order to succeed. Some of the strongest friendships you will have on this University will be within the detachment.
Of the things that you get out of AFROTC the most important and most effective on your future will be how AFROTC will give you a sense of direction and a focus on where you are going while you are in college. By having a goal set on the future and knowing that directly out of college, you have a guaranteed job and that you WILL be a integral part in leading part of the Air Force's 500,000+ Airmen you are able to visibly see that you are going somewhere in your life.
With that direction you are also going to grow as a person, increasing confidence within yourself, and developing the inner strength that you may not have known you had before you got here. You will find that you are capable of doing a lot of things that you may never have thought you were the right kind of person for. This confidence and strength is going to be drawn out of you through many hours of individual instruction and training. You're also going to gain self confidence as you get into better shape participating in Physical Training (PT). By the time you are ready to leave for Field Training you will be at a level where you are fit to be trained on just what it takes to be a true leader in the field.
Through all this training you will learn how to become an effective leader in today's world and will be prepared for a leadership position within the United States Air Force. From all this training and the experience and knowledge you will gain from being an officer in the Air Force you will gain the skills that many corporations will be looking for should you choose to ever leave the military. Just by joining ROTC and then going into the Air Force for only four years, you will grow not only yourself but also your attractiveness in the eyes of potential employers. The ability to put on a resume that you were an officer in the United States Air Force makes for a very impressive statement and shows that you have the character, strength, and ability to effectively lead any group of people to accomplishing their mission whether it be in the corporate world or the military world.
However, apart from all the awarding experiences, training, and career advancement that you receive within the Air Force, there are also a few tangible benefits as well. These benefits include receiving college credit for taking your AFROTC classes, potential scholarships to help you pay for your college schooling, stipends that give you money for books and towards everyday living costs, and also the opportunity to be selected for Professional Development Training (PDT) and government internships. The opportunities for scholarships are based on your performance as a student and as a cadet. By demonstrating that you know how to adequately manage your time between AFROTC, classes, and everyday life, that you care deeply about the program and are emotionally dedicated and involved, and that you put forth the effort to get good grades and succeed in your academics you will make yourself a highly attractive candidate for scholarship's. With scholarships comes a monthly stipend that gives you money to help offset the costs of daily living along with money to pay for books for each semester. Also for scholarship cadets you are required to attend a PDT. These courses are generally for varying lengths within the summer and offer opportunities to cadets such as traveling to a base and seeing what Active Duty life is like, receiving instruction in hand to hand combat, traveling out to the Air Force Academy to Participate in a mock deployment during Global Engagement, and also possibly getting trained and certified in Free Fall Parachuting or Soaring. These opportunities are also available to cadets that demonstrate they are dedicated to the AFROTC program and that the cadre feel are deserving of a chance to compete for PDT slots.
In the end the Air Force offers many benefits to the people that are willing to take on the challenge to become something bigger than what they could be outside in the civilian world and gives those people the opportunities they need to go on to have an exciting and rewarding career.
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