Allie Hansen

Enlisting in the military or going to a military academy are not the only ways to join the military. Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a program common on college campuses that prepares students to join the military after college is over. While during one’s freshman and sophomore year there is no requirement to give service, starting a student’s junior year, they must contract with the military.

Allie Hansen will join the Army ROTC next year at Xavier University, where she’s studying nursing. Hansen came to the decision to join the Army ROTC since “I wanted to deal more with trauma because I’m going into nursing.”  

Part of the advantage to joining ROTC rather than enlisting, Hansen explained, is that “you’re automatically entered into the officer corps.” ROTC also offers extensive scholarships to students in the program.

While members have the choice of joining the reserves or doing active duty, Hansen wants to do active duty following her college graduation. “There’s a really big hospital in Germany that I really want to go to. I think that’d be really cool, especially to live in a different country for a year or two,” Hansen said.

Being a part of ROTC also prevents Hansen from dealing with many of the struggles college students have after graduation: “I’d have a job going out of college and no student debt.”