Can ROTC help me?

Question

I failed to type my last question adequately so bear one more please. I have ADHD.I have many high school achievements (3 honor societies and eagle scout rank, had no real childhood cause of this and want my sacrefice in a large time mean something) I really do honor our military and enlisted as well. The whole reason I do not want to do enlisted Is because I will be telling myself that I let my disability gimp my opportunities (and would rather die than have a college "put me in my place" and thus Iam willing to put more than 110% into overcoming the obsticale. My problem is I take way too long on most things (academic wise,like testing, not in the world, in fact its a strength outside the learning enviorment). Will the ROTC take any steps into protecting my rights as a student with disabilities? My college does not (most likely because their is no 2and party over looking them.) If I meet discrimination because of my ADHD can the ROTC take steps to protect me as a student or no?

Answer 1

First don't start using your ADHD as a crutch it seems to me as a fellow Learning impaired person I went through school and college knowing that I had these problems, But I overcame them and graduated from college.

ROTC is good but as with anything that set you on a long term path, such as military service, not to be entered into lightly. If you want to do it remember that you have to do time in that service after your schooling is over. So do the same thing that you would do if you were going to enlist in a service research talk to recruiters and remeber what each service does If you don't like sailing you might not like the Navy if you hate camping the Army might not be for you. Research Research and more Research.

Answer 2

I don't think ROTC will do anything for your ADHD. There is a strong effort on evaluation in the program, which means they try to screen out people who won't make good officers -- but there isn't much effort put into special remediation for folks with disabilities.

People who enter the program do get some pretty good developmental experiences in the course of the program, and this may help someone with a marginal disability who could benefit from those experiences, but it's really a self-help situation and not a rehabilitation.

If you believe you're severely disabled by ADHD, then ROTC probably isn't for you. But in that case enlisting wouldn't be a good deal either. I advise you to go see the local recruiter as well as the officers in the ROTC unit and discuss with them the situation and exactly what effect your ADHD has on you.

I hope this helps. Good luck, and I'm happy you're considering the military.

Answer 3

first of all, disregard what Bob F wrote. there is no MEPS. I AM IN ARMY ROTC. i am in the program that was just named the NUMBER 1 PROGRAM WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. so i think i know what im talking about. some people have told you about the money (monthly stipend). you only get it once you become contracted. and to become contracted, you must pass the APFT. you also receive $600/semester for books. if you dont use all $600, the rest is yours. and all of this money is non-taxed! rotc is not like bootcamp. at some schools (Westpointe, The Citadel, TX A&M, and others) it may be much tougher than most. the only reason to attend one of these would be for prestige. i am contracted. pt is M,W,F from 0600-0700. formation is at 0545. pt is not grueling if you have good attendence. it is meant to prepare you for the APFT, therefore we run, do pust-ups and do sit-ups a lot. we have the regular military science class 2 times a week. this is where we learn everything in a formal school enviornment. and thursday is our leadership lab. it lasts around 3-3.5 hours. we wear our ACUs. and the equipment we carry varies depending on the activities. during lab we do: a lot of land navigation practice and STX lane/Patrolling practicing. during STX lanes and patrolling we break out the paintball guns to add a more realistic edge to it. and during the FTXs, we get to use M16/SAWs with blanks. we go through the gas chamber and qualify on the M16 range and Hand Grenade Assault Course. we have a Field Training Exercise (FTX) each semester. they last between 3-4 days. we also have a formal comissioning ceremony each semester. and during the spring semester we have a dining in. i am just speaking of my experiences as a Cameron University ROTC Cadet. i know most schools are not as high speed as us and may not get the chance to do as much as us... but, at least you have an idea now.

Answer 4

ROTC has nothing to do with College.. it just happens to be based on a college campus. If you are currently on meds for ADHD, you are disqualified from militatry service period. You must be off themeds for at leats 12 months./. and function NORMALLY during that 12 motnths before a waiver will eb considered.

Frankly, mililitary service means doing stuff QUICKLY with awhole lotta pressure all around you. if you take too long to make a decision, people could die.

Answer 5

I hate to burst your bubble, but if you need special protections and assistance to succeed in college, you will never pass officer training school. The military's priority is its own strength, not your needs. They pretty much run on the addage 'No quarter asked, none given'.
Many of the drugs required to control ADHD as severe as you appear to be describing also would be automatic disqualifiers.

You may want to rethink your stance on college, and google support groups for ADHD, many have lists of colleges, etc. who have programs to assist in education. Good luck to you.

Answer 6

I am thinking of doing ROTC too. I don't know if they will help with discrimination or not but i would recommend giving it a try anyway.

Answer 7

Me and my brother have adhd as well, and we don't have any problems with it.

He's in the Marine Corps, and I'm in ROTC.

So, it really shouldn't matter.

Answer 8

no from what i hear all they do is brainwash you.