About Army ROTC The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps
(ROTC), as it exists today, began with President Wilson signing
the National Defense Act of 1916. Although military training had
been taking place in civilian colleges and universities as early
as 1819, the signing of the National Defense Act brought this
training under a single, federally-controlled entity: The
Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Army ROTC is the largest
officer-producing organization with the American military,
having commissioned more than half a million second lieutenants
since its inception. Women have been an integral part of the
Army ROTC since 1972. The first group of females from ROTC were
commissioned in 1975. Today, women constitute 20 percent of the
Corps of Cadets and more that 15 percent of each commissioning
cohort. In April 1986, the U.S. Army Cadet Command was formed.
With its headquarters in Fort Monroe, Virginia, Cadet Command
assumed responsibility for more than 400 senior ROTC units, four
regional headquarters and th