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Navy Adds a Year to NROTC Obligation

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS090924-11
Release Date: 9/24/2009 2:53:00 PM

From Naval Service Training Command Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- The secretary of the Navy approved a plan to increase the active duty Minimum Service Requirement (MSR) for Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Navy-option scholarship recipients.

NAVADMIN 257/09 dated Sept. 5 notes all NROTC Navy-option scholarship recipients who sign an NROTC contract for receipt of undergraduate educational assistance on or after July 1, 2010 must obligate to serve in the Navy for five years active duty instead of the previous four years.

According to Naval Service Training Command, which oversees the NROTC program, the reason for the added year of obligation is to better manage the Navy's surface warfare community stabilization and nuclear power accessions.

This change will standardize NROTC and U.S. Naval Academy MSR years and establish consistency among all unrestricted line communities, with the exception of the longer aviation requirements.

"This brings the (NROTC) program in line with the Naval Academy, so everyone has to stay (on active duty) the same amount of time," said Cathy Kempf, a former Navy commander, who now heads the selection and placement department for NROTC at Naval Service Training Command's Officer Development Directorate in Pensacola, Fla.

"It levels the playing field for junior officers and gives them the chance to serve in a staff position and as a division officer, where they'll get leadership experience," she said. "With two different assignments, they'll be better equipped to decide if they want to stay on active duty or not."

The revised policy will impact the class of 2014 as they begin academic studies in fall 2010 and sign a service agreement upon acceptance of education assistance. This policy change will not affect the MSR for Marine Option, Navy Nurse Program, or College Program.

The NROTC program was established to educate and train qualified young men and women for service as commissioned officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. The program offers full tuition scholarships, plus book and lab reimbursement and a monthly stipend at our nation's most competitive and elite universities. More than 1,000 Navy Ensigns and Marine Corps Second Lieutenants are commissioned annually through the NROTC program.