College R.O.T.C. Units Anticipate Increase Next Year; Freshman Enrollment Expected to Remain Same as '55

R.O.T.C. units in the College next year are expected to include over 1,300 students, according to estimates made recently by the heads of the three service departments. This figure would represent an increase of 300 cadets and midshipmen over this year, and a doubling of last year's.

But the actual number of freshmen which the departments plan to admit next year will be only slightly more than the number which entered from the class of '55. This estimate, given by the military officials, coincides with the statement on R.O.T.C. made earlier in the year by President Conant in his annual report to the Board of Overseers.

The President forsaw that "a majority of the physically eligible freshman ... within another year would be "carying on a military program as a regular part of their undergraduate work" but only if "the military departments are ready to expand the courses."

Limited staffs and facilities are the main reasons the local units will not admit a larger group of new men. The size of the College units is decided by superior headquarters. The Air Force and Army each have already asked for an additional officer. One man, however, is not felt to be enough to allow additional expansion of either unit beyond the number of freshmen admitted this year.

The increase in the overall size of R.O.T.C. units is accounted for by the relative difference between the small number of graduating seniors and the anticipated large group of incoming freshmen. Both the Air Force with 64 graduates and over 200 expected new men, and the Army with about 34 and 100 point out this difference.

When the present graduating class of '52 entered the College four years ago in the fall of 1948, interest in R.O.T.C. was at its low point. Total enrollment in the entire Army field artillery battery for one pre-Korea a year was only 85 cadets.

After the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950, however, the College R.O.T.C. units were greatly expanded. One quarter of the next freshman class, that of '54, entered the military programs. Last fall 40 percent of the freshmen enrolled, over 400 students.

Deferments Attractive

Draft deferments through 4 years of college seem to hold the main attraction for students entering R.O.T.C.. But the services later compensate for the free ride, by holding the newly-commissioned second lieutenants in the reserve for eight years after graduation, subject to call for two years active duty. The graduating class of '51 received notice to report for duty within 90 days after Commencement, and this year's graduates except for the veterans expect to do likewise.

One Air Force R.O.T.C. program, however, entails four years of active service after graduation, including one year at flying school. The flight operations option begins in the last two years of R.O.T.C. work. The program is much less popular at the College than the air comptroller course involving ground administration work, which requires only two years later service.

The Army Field Artillery program ranges somewhere between the dullness of comptroller work and the glamor of flight training. The classic complaint of the artillerymen is that the mortality rate of battery forward observers like themselves was one of the highest among combat forces during World War II.

Some cadets in this branch ask to be transferred to other ones after graduation. One possible transfer is to Army Aviation Flight Training, where the cannoneers learn to fly in light liaison and fire spotting aircraft.

Marines Too

Line officers in both the Marine Corps and Navy are commissioned after graduation from the third R.O.T.C. unit. The naval program is also divided into two groups of students, the "regulars" and the contract students. After a nation-wide competitive examination, the former receive tuition, books, and living allowances free from the Navy during their four years in college, and are commissioned in the regular Navy following graduation.

Since the Navy forbids them to marry in college, several middles have found matrimony an easy way to back out of the program without having to refund the money.

Contract students, however, like members of the Air and Army units, receive nominal allowances from the government during their last two years in the college program, and are then commissioned as reservists.

Besides their classroom work during the school year, all R.O.T.C. members now have to attend camp or make a cruise during at least one of the three summers between college terms. The naval "regulars" sail abroad all three vacations, while the other groups spend only a few weeks in training somewhere in the U.S. or North American waters.

R.O.T.C. members admit that they do not find the work very hard. Though times have changed since students used to join the Army unit just to use the horses to play polo, the courses still have the reputation of being easy. Finally, the University faculty acknowledged this in 1948 by giving only % credits to R.O.T.C. courses.