In the face of a changing security environment, the Navy should consider adjusting the NROTC program to best leverage the talent and diversity it offers.
Of the U.S. Navy’s three major commissioning sources, the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) is the one created with the intention of fostering dynamism among the officer corps. The different experiences across commands and schools help foster diversity of thought within the sea services.
The structure of NROTC, however, remains stagnant in the face of a changing security environment. In addition, there are fundamental flaws in the model that prevent the Navy from benefiting fully from the resources available to it. Should these two trends not be addressed, the Navy and Marine Corps will be disadvantaged in their ability to acquire and retain talent in mission-critical areas.
The Current Model
NROTC recruits from among prospective and current undergraduates. A midshipman in the program can expect to commission into one of the Navy’s primary warfare communities upon successful completion of the program and graduation with a bachelor’s degree. The vast majority will commission as surface warfare or submarine warfare officers, naval aviators, or naval flight officers.
The need for warfare-qualified officers and the technical ability required by these communities inspired the creation of a tiered academic major system. Tier 1 (synonymous with Group 1 at the U.S. Naval Academy) majors include various engineering disciplines, with an emphasis on mechanical, aeronautical, and other specialties with direct application to the technical competence required by the warfare communities. These majors are seen as critical to the success of a technically minded Navy.
Tier 2 majors are those math- and science-based majors without explicit applications for the Navy. A number of majors, from chemistry to quantitative economics are considered Tier 2. The assumption is that the general focus on quantitative reasoning will provide similar benefits as majors in Tier 1 despite the lack of material directly applicable to maritime operations. Collectively, 85 percent of NROTC scholarships are awarded to Tier 1 and 2 majors.
Tier 3 is the broadest, as it includes all majors not detailed in Tiers 1 or 2. These majors range across the humanities, social sciences, and many pre-professional and administrative programs. A Tier 3 subset called the Language, Regional Expertise, and Cultural Awareness Program (LREC) accepts 20-30 midshipmen nationwide and focuses on area studies and language promotion; however, there is no effective distinction in opportunity between LREC and regular Tier 3.
The tiers are a factor in midshipmen ranking, which is used to help determine ship selection for surface warfare officers and program ascension for Nuclear Power School, Flight School, and other opportunities. No tier is the be all or end all for program acceptance—philosophers can be submariners, and engineers can be SEALs. The tier of a midshipman’s major does not limit into what community he or she can commission.
Tailoring Expertise
The rationale behind the current model is the need to fill unrestricted line positions in the fleet. These traditional warfare communities are important, but they are not the totality of the Navy’s officer positions, nor do they include rapidly developing areas of the modern battlespace.
War no longer is confined to the use of conventional weapons. It involves complex information systems, the vast array of modern infrastructure, and command of communication in ways not known to combatants of the past. Thus, the Navy no longer can afford to prioritize the unrestricted line communities as those engaged in warfighting. In asymmetric combat, anything can be weaponized.
As it stands, NROTC is not designed with this fact in mind. While the Air Force and Army ROTC programs have dozens of communities available to their cadets—including intelligence, cryptologic warfare, and supply—midshipmen are limited to six. The Air Force also has the Navy beat in the recruitment of officers to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have an important and growing role in naval aviation.
Use of the tier system is odd considering all midshipmen must meet minimum math, physics, security, English, and culture requirements seen as necessary to becoming proficient officers in the fleet. Engineering majors are exposed to more of the relevant material before entering Nuclear Power School, but there is no bar to those with less technical education so long as they can gain the minimum level of exposure. The pre-Power School program offered to Tier 3 majors selected for submarines or nuclear-qualified surface warfare is indicative of this.
The lack of slots outside the unrestricted line communities also ignores the potential benefits of some majors. For example, a computer science major’s unique skill set could be invaluable to the information warfare corps. A similar case could be made for LREC midshipmen and the intelligence community or management majors and the Supply Corps. Opening the restricted line and staff communities would allow midshipment to apply their specialized educations, provide communities with officers with skills tailored to their missions, and give the Navy a more immediate return on taxpayers’ investment.
Recruiting Advanced Talent
Since a bachelor’s degree is the base education required to commission, NROTC’s focus on undergraduate students is understandable. However, this focus becomes restrictive when trying to recruit talent.
An important draw of NROTC over Officer Candidate School or even the academies for individuals interested in service is that they can get a civilian education without the worry of student loans. This is not an option for graduate students. The financial and educational benefits conferred by NROTC are not available for graduate education until an officer enters the military.
The Health Professions Scholarship Program provides tuition assistance to medical students in exchange for service, but doctors are not the only advanced students who could benefit the officer corps. Consider the potential benefit of graduate-level computer science students to the cryptologic warfare community, or doctoral students in area studies or international relations to the intelligence community. Even less readily applicable degrees such as a masters of business administration (MBA) could be a boon to the unrestricted line.
The Navy does offer numerous graduate education programs, from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to the limited civilian education slots available in some communities, and many are subsidized in part or full. To the Navy’s benefit, programs such as NPS or the Naval War College can have a military flavor not available at many civilian institutions, which makes the education more readily applicable to maritime operations.
One-year executive programs and military-centric education do not appeal to everyone, however, and many already commissioned officers likely would not be able to take advantage of most graduate programs.
Integrating graduate programs into existing undergraduate NROTC units would not be difficult. The Army already accommodates such students in its ROTC program. By subsidizing graduate education, much as NROTC does for undergraduates, the Navy could tap a new vein of talent for its officer corps.
The Path Forward
Adapting NROTC to a new age of naval warfare is critical. Opening the program to restricted line and staff corps positions, tailoring the preference system to the community, and promoting the inclusion of graduate students in NROTC would benefit naval forces moving forward.
NROTC does an admirable job at producing quality officers. But like everything in the military, it must adapt to address the changing mission and the challenges facing the sea services today. The future of the officer corps is inextricably linked to an understanding of the maritime combat environment, and this demands knowledge of and action responsive to the changing face of war and the issues of junior officer retention and procurement. These recommendations could be a step toward bettering the technical expertise and effectiveness of the officers brought in through NROTC.
Midshipman Chiacchia is a student at Brown University and a midshipman in the Holy Cross NROTC Battalion. He is majoring in political science, Middle East studies, and history and will commission in May 2020.