Green to Gold - Future officers From Today's Enlisted Ranks

L In its constant search for quality officers, the Army taps its enlisted ranks to find good soldiers with potential. These soldiers have three possible routes to gain a commission: OCS at Fort Benning, the U. S. Military Academy, or the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps offered at approximately 300 colleges. As an ROTC instructor, my article will focus on the ROTC option.

Green to Gold, the Army ROTC program, offers soldiers on active duty an early discharge to earn a bachelor's degree and a commission. Armor and cavalry soldiers make excellent Green to Gold candidates. With a good grasp of basic soldier skills, familiarity with operations orders, and solid GT scores, many 19-series soldiers can adapt with minimal difficulty to Army ROTC and its emphasis on small unit skills and basic soldier knowledge. For those soldiers with good high school records and/or some college credit already earned, they may meet the qualifications for Green to Gold. Green to Gold offers two options, scholarship and nonscholarship. To qualify for the scholarship option, a soldier must meet the following criteria: Candidates for a &year Green to Gold scholarship (anyone with less than one year of college) must have an SAT score of at least 850 or an ACT score of at least 19; be accepted by an historically black college or university offering Army ROTC; be accepted by the Army ROTC department at that school; have at least two years of active duty when discharged to start college; be recommended by both the company and battalion commanders; be no older than 26 at graduation with two years of active duty, 27 with three years of active duty, or 28 with four or more years of active duty; and pass a medical examination. Candidates for 2- and 3-year Green to Gold scholarships must have a GT score of 135 or higher; a college grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 or higher; be accepted by any school offering Army ROTC and by the ARMY ROTC department at that school; and have at least two years of active duty when discharged to start college. Recommendations, age requirements, and medical exam are the same as for a 4-year scholarship.

To qualify for the nonxholarship option, a soldier must have completed two years of college; have a GT score of 110 or higher; a college GPA of 2.0 or higher; be accepted by any school offering Army ROTC and by the Army ROTC department at that school; have at least two years of active duty when discharged to start college; be recommended by the company commander; be no older than 29 at graduation (waiverable to 32); and pass a medical exam.

The scholarship benefits are: Tuition completely paid, up to $8,000 per school year (if tuition is higher than $8,000 the Army pays $8,000 or 80 per cent of tuition, whichever is greater; a book allowance of $225 per semester or $150 per quarter; and a monthly subsistence allowance of $100 during the school year. The nonscholarship benefits are: A monthly subsistence allowance of $100 during the school year and the opportunity to simultaneously serve in a National Guard or Army Reserve unit while a cadet, drawing E5 pay as per time in service (This option is not available to scholarship cadets.) Soldiers can draw their veterans benefits while in Army ROTC if they have served the minimum time to qualrfy. To qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill, a soldier has to serve at least 30 months of a three-year or longer enlistment. If the soldier has the Army College Fund as well, he qualifies for that money; however, the Fund money is pro-rated to the percentage of his enlistment he has served.

If a soldier wants a scholarship and is qualified, what are his or her chances? In the last five years (FY89-FY93), a soldier's chances have been excellent. In four of those years (FY90 being the exception) every soldier applying who was qualified got a scholarship. So, if a soldier is qualified, have that soldier apply! The service obligation is eight years after commissioning. This time can be served on active duty (if selected), or in the Army Reserve or National Guard. Historically, about half of ROTC graduates go on active duty. Though my experience is limited to being Fort Campbell's Green to Gold representative and in Austin Peay State University's (APSU) Army ROTC department, I have seen great success in this program. Our Green to Gold cadets at Austin Peay do very well. (One, CPT Lance Richardson, was the top cadet in the nation in 1989!) They provide maturity and a breadth of experience to our ROTC program and helped us become the top rated medium size Army ROTC program in the nation in 1990. Of particular note are cadets who come from the armor or cavalry units. We currently have one cadet in our junior class who came to us from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) as a former SSG scout, another junior was a SGT mortarman in 2nd ACR. Additionally, we have a sophomore cadet who was formerly in the 2nd ACR.

If interested, contact the Army ROTC department nearest you for further information and assistance. Each stateside installation (to include Alaska and Hawaii) have nearby Army ROTC departments responsible for Green to Gold. If you are overseas, contact your nearest education center and the Army ROTC department of your school of choice for assistance.

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