TSU 2004-2005 Undergraduate Catalog

Commander: Joe A. Wilson, Colonel, USAF
AFROTC Detachment 790, Floyd-Payne Student Center

GENERAL STATEMENT

The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) is the largest and oldest source of commissioned officers for the U.S. Air Force. AFROTC’s mission is the following: To produce leaders and better citizens for America. AFROTC headquarters is at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL. We teach our students the same curricula that future officers learn at the U.S. Air Force Academy and Officer Training School. Additionally, planners have designed the AFROTC program to recruit, educate, and commission college students based on U.S. Air Force (USAF) requirements. As of August 2002, over 140 ROTC detachments are located on college and university campuses throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Through cross-town or consortium agreements, students from various universities and colleges in middle Tennessee participate in AFROTC at Detachment 790. Students may enter in their freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior academic year. We also have opportunities for graduate students. Please consult our web site at URL: < http://www.tnstate.edu/rotc > for a list of schools that we service and other information concerning our program.

GENERAL MILITARY COURSE (GMC)

For students who enter as freshmen, the first two years of AFROTC, the General Military Course (GMC) consists of one hour of classroom work and two hours of leadership laboratory each week. Note that your institution may accept two courses in Aerospace Studies in lieu of two courses in Physical Education. Please consult your counselor for details. Any full-time student can participate in AFROTC GMC provided they meet age requirements. Non-scholarship GMC cadets are under no service obligation whatsoever. Upon completion of GMC requirements, cadets who wish to compete for entry into the last two years of the program, the Professional Officer Corps (POC), must do so under the requirements of the POC selection. This process uses qualitative factors, such as grade-point average, cadre evaluation, aptitude, and physical fitness test scores to determine a cadet’s potential for service in the USAF. After selection, students must successfully complete a four or five-week, summer field training encampment at an assigned USAF base before entering the Professional Officer Corps.

PROFESSIONAL OFFICER COURSE (POC)

Cadets enrolled in the Professional Officer Course (POC) attend class three hours per week and participate in a weekly leadership laboratory lasting two hours. In the POC, cadets apply what they have learned in the GMC and at field training encampment. The Commandant of Cadets entrusts POC cadets to lead the leadership laboratories. The underlying goal of the leadership laboratory is for POC cadets to teach GMC cadets how to perform as airmen and master general military customs and courtesies. POC class sizes are small. The instructor places emphasis on group discussions and refining communication skills. Classroom topics include leadership, management, communication, and U.S. national defense policy. Once enrolled in the POC, cadets enlist into the Air Force Reserve and incur a service obligation. This entitles them to a monthly, nontaxable subsistence allowance currently $350.00 the first year of the POC and $400.00 the second year of the POC.

FIELD TRAINING

Field Training is, in most cases, a cadet’s first exposure to a working USAF environment. The goal of Field Training is to develop military leadership and discipline and refine the skills cadets learned in the GMC. The Field Training environment allows commissioned officers to evaluate each cadet’s potential to serve as an officer. Field Training includes aircraft and aircrew orientation, USAF professional development orientation, marksmanship training, junior officer training, physical fitness, and survival training. The USAF provides uniforms, lodging, and meals at no cost to the cadet. Additionally the USAF pays cadets for their travel expenses if they opt to use their privately owned vehicles or commercial air conveyance to travel to and from summer encampment. Additionally, after applicable deductions, Field-Training cadets earn about $650 for the four-week encampment and about $750 for the five-week encampment.

UNIVERSITY CREDITS AND CURRICULUM

Students must work with their institutions and departments to determine whether AFROTC classes will receive core, core elective, general elective, or any credit at all. A Tennessee State University minor in Aerospace Studies consists of 22 semester hours and is available to those students who successfully complete GMC and POC curricula. A minor may also be obtained at the other institutions.
 

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Current emphasis in the Air Force ROTC College Scholarship Program is to award scholarships to candidates pursuing all types of degrees. Any student who maintains a “B” average, is physically fit, and morally sound may compete for a scholarship regardless of his/her major field of study. We select our scholarship recipients on the “whole-person concept.”

Scholarships are normally awarded in three-and-one-half, three, two-and-one-half, two, and one-year increments. Scholarships typically cover a student’s tuition, books, and associated fee costs. Cadets on scholarship also earn a subsistence allowance currently $250.00 the first year up to $400.00 during the fourth year. Moreover, those students who are academic standouts may even earn monies to pay for room, board, or similar expenses. Lastly, students who attend Historically Black Colleges or Universities have unique opportunities in our program. Please telephone (615-963-5931) or visit our office to learn more about this.

In addition to these scholarships, Air Force ROTC has an incentive scholarship program for cadets who have signed contracts committing them to the Professional Officer Corps (POC). This POC incentive scholarship pays up to $3,455 annually in addition to the monthly subsistence allowance, and is available to nearly all POC cadets who are not already receiving scholarship benefits, but otherwise eligible for POC incentive entitlements. All scholarship cadets are required to meet certain academic, military, and physical fitness standards to earn and maintain scholarship benefits. In addition, scholarship and incentive recipients may be no more than age 30 in the calendar year during which commissioning takes place. All candidates must commission by age 35.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

AERO 1010, 1020 The Foundations of the United States Air Force, is a survey course designed to introduce students to the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. Featured topics include: mission and organization of the Air Force, officership and professionalism, military customs and courtesies, USAF officer opportunities, and an introduction to communication skills.

AERO 2010, 2020 Air Power History is designed to examine general aspects of air and space power through a historical perspective. Utilizing this perspective, the course covers a time period from the first balloons and dirigibles to the war on terrorism. Historical examples are provided to extrapolate the development of Air Force capabilities (competencies), and missions (functions) to demonstrate the evolution of what has become today’s USAF and space power.

AERO 351, 352 Air Force Leadership Studies, is a study of leadership, management fundamentals, professional knowledge, Air Force personnel and evaluation systems, leadership ethics, and communication skills required of an Air Force junior officer. Case studies are used to examine Air Force leadership and management situations as a means of demonstrating and exercising practical application of the concepts being studied. A mandatory Leadership Laboratory complements this course by providing advanced leadership experiences in officer-type activities, giving students the opportunity to apply advanced leadership and management principles.

AERO 451, 452 National Security Affairs/Preparation for Active Duty, examines the U.S. national security process, regional studies, advanced leadership ethics, and USAF doctrine. Special topics of interest focus on the military as a profession, officership, military justice, civilian control of the military, preparation for active duty, and current issues affecting the military. Within this structure, we continue to emphasize the refinement of communication skills.

AERO 1011L-2021L; 351L - 452L Leadership Laboratory, all cadets enrolled in the GMC or POC must take leadership laboratory each semester. The one and one half hours per week is typically taken throughout a cadets’ enrollment in AFROTC. Instruction is conducted within the framework of an organized cadet corps with a progression of experiences designed to develop each cadets’ leadership potential. Leadership Laboratory involves a study of USAF customs and courtesies; drill and ceremony; career opportunities in the USAF, and the life and work of an USAF officer. Cadets develop advanced leadership skills in a practical laboratory. Co requisite: Cadets must enroll in the equivalent Aerospace Studies class.