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ROTC program revived on Saipan
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Posted on Aug 01 2005
The Northern Marianas College and the University of Guam entered yesterday into a memorandum of agreement re-establishing the U.S. Army Senior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program on Saipan.
With the MOA signed, both educational institutions now anticipate filling two classes of 15 students each for the Fall 2005 semester.
The UOG Department of Military Science noted that this should not be hard to fulfill, based on historical data from the university’s ROTC program. The university recalled that two lieutenants were commissioned from Saipan in fiscal year 2002, four in FY2003, and four in FY2004.
“We currently project commissioning two lieutenants in FY 2005 and zero in FY 2006. We anticipate two to four cadets, or more, from Saipan to obtain a commission on the average each year once we re-establish the [military service] curriculum at NMC,” the university said.
Furthermore, UOG said the agreement could pave the way for the planned establishment of a Saipan National Guard, which is reportedly being discussed by the CNMI Governor’s Office and Guam’s top military officials.
“If this becomes reality, there may be additional interest and opportunity for recruitment into our program to develop and commission officers,” UOG hoped.
Under the agreement, NMC would pay for two UOG instructors to come to Saipan five times per semester to instruct over a Friday and Saturday, four to six hours each day.
NMC intends to charge students tuition for the first two basic military science courses in order to fund the trips of the instructors from Guam. But when cadets transfer to UOG for the third and fourth course levels, they will not be charged.
