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Department of Military Science

Time Commitment

The time commitment is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome when figuring out if Army ROTC is the right path for you. The final step in earning your commission is to graduate from the university and once that is done the 8 year commitment begins as an Officer in the United States Army.

Time commitments are based on component (Active Duty (AD), Army Reserve (USAR), and Army National Guard (ARNG)) and money. Below are the 4 different scenarios. This is information is found in Cadet Command Regulation 145-1, Chapter 2-11 and Army Regulation 350-100, Chapter 2-2.

  1. If you are a scholarship Cadet and commission into the AD you will serve 4 years on AD and last 4 years of your contract are either spent on AD, in the USAR or ARNG, or in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), which allows you to return to civilian life, but are still under contract.
  2. If you are a non-scholarship Cadet and commission into the AD you will serve 3 years on AD and the last 5 years of your contract will be spent either on AD, in the USAR or ARNG, or in the IRR.
  3. If you are a scholarship Cadet and commission into the USAR or ARNG you will serve 8 years in a drilling status (one weekend/month and two weeks/year for annual training).
  4. If you are a non-scholarship Cadet and commission into the USAR or ARNG you will serve 6 years in a drilling status (one weekend/month and two weeks/year for annual training) and the last 2 years of your contract are either spent in the USAR, ARNG or IRR.