§2111a. Support for senior military colleges

(a) Detail of Officers To Serve as Commandant or Assistant Commandant of Cadets.-(1) Upon the request of a senior military college, the Secretary of Defense may detail an officer on the active-duty list to serve as Commandant of Cadets at that college or (in the case of a college with an Assistant Commandant of Cadets) detail an officer on the active-duty list to serve as Assistant Commandant of Cadets at that college (but not both).

(2) In the case of an officer detailed as Commandant of Cadets, the officer may, upon the request of the college, be assigned from among the Professor of Military Science, the Professor of Naval Science (if any), and the Professor of Aerospace Science (if any) at that college or may be in addition to any other officer detailed to that college in support of the program.

(3) In the case of an officer detailed as Assistant Commandant of Cadets, the officer may, upon the request of the college, be assigned from among officers otherwise detailed to duty at that college in support of the program or may be in addition to any other officer detailed to that college in support of the program.

(b) Designation of Officers as Tactical Officers.-Upon the request of a senior military college, the Secretary of Defense may authorize officers (other than officers covered by subsection (a)) who are detailed to duty as instructors at that college to act simultaneously as tactical officers (with or without compensation) for the Corps of Cadets at that college.

(c) Detail of Officers.-The Secretary of a military department shall designate officers for detail to the program at a senior military college in accordance with criteria provided by the college. An officer may not be detailed to a senior military college without the approval of that college.

(d) Termination or Reduction of Program Prohibited.-The Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments may not take or authorize any action to terminate or reduce a unit of the Senior Reserve Officers' Training Corps at a senior military college unless the termination or reduction is specifically requested by the college.

(e) Assignment to Active Duty.-(1) The Secretary of the Army shall ensure that a graduate of a senior military college who desires to serve as a commissioned officer on active duty upon graduation from the college, who is medically and physically qualified for active duty, and who is recommended for such duty by the professor of military science at the college, shall be assigned to active duty.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary of the Army from requiring a member of the program who graduates from a senior military college to serve on active duty.

(f) Senior Military Colleges.-The senior military colleges are the following:

(1) Texas A&M University.

(2) Norwich University.

(3) The Virginia Military Institute.

(4) The Citadel.

(5) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

(6) The University of North Georgia.

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title V, §545(a), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 317 ; amended Pub. L. 105–85, div. A, title V, §544(d)–(f)(1), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 1745 , 1746; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title V, §541(c), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 607 ; Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title V, §583, Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 776 .)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2013-Subsec. (f)(6). Pub. L. 113–66 amended par. (6) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (6) read as follows: "North Georgia College and State University."

1999-Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 106–65 struck out at end "This paragraph shall apply to a member of the program at a senior military college who graduates from the college after March 31, 1997."

1997-Pub. L. 105–85, §544(f)(1), substituted "Support for" for "Detail of officers to" in section catchline.

Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 105–85, §544(d)(2), added subsecs. (d) and (e). Former subsec. (d) redesignated (f).

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 105–85, §544(e), substituted "University" for "College" in par. (2) and inserted "and State University" before period at end of par. (6).

Pub. L. 105–85, §544(d)(1), redesignated subsec. (d) as (f).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Continuation of Support to Senior Military Colleges

Pub. L. 105–85, div. A, title V, §544(a)–(c), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 1744 , provided that:

"(a) Definition of Senior Military Colleges.-For purposes of this section, the term 'senior military colleges' means the following:

"(1) Texas A&M University.

"(2) Norwich University.

"(3) The Virginia Military Institute.

"(4) The Citadel.

"(5) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

"(6) North Georgia College and State University.

"(b) Findings.-Congress finds the following:

"(1) The senior military colleges consistently have provided substantial numbers of highly qualified, long-serving leaders to the Armed Forces.

"(2) The quality of the military leaders produced by the senior military colleges is, in part, the result of the rigorous military environment imposed on students attending the senior military colleges by the colleges, as well as the result of the long-standing close support relationship between the Corps of Cadets at each college and the Reserve Officer Training Corps personnel at the colleges who serve as effective leadership role models and mentors.

"(3) In recognition of the quality of the young leaders produced by the senior military colleges, the Department of Defense and the military services have traditionally maintained special relationships with the colleges, including the policy to grant active duty service in the Army to graduates of the colleges who desire such service and who are recommended for such service by their ROTC professors of military science.

"(4) Each of the senior military colleges has demonstrated an ability to adapt its systems and operations to changing conditions in, and requirements of, the Armed Forces without compromising the quality of leaders produced and without interruption of the close relationship between the colleges and the Department of Defense.

"(c) Sense of Congress.-In light of the findings in subsection (b), it is the sense of Congress that-

"(1) the proposed initiative of the Secretary of the Army to end the commitment to active duty service for all graduates of senior military colleges who desire such service and who are recommended for such service by their ROTC professors of military science is short-sighted and contrary to the long-term interests of the Army;

"(2) as they have in the past, the senior military colleges can and will continue to accommodate to changing military requirements to ensure that future graduates entering military service continue to be officers of superb quality who are quickly assimilated by the Armed Forces and fully prepared to make significant contributions to the Armed Forces through extended military careers; and

"(3) decisions of the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of a military department that fundamentally and unilaterally change the long-standing relationship of the Armed Forces with the senior military colleges are not in the best interests of the Department of Defense or the Armed Forces and are patently unfair to students who made decisions to enroll in the senior military colleges on the basis of existing Department and Armed Forces policy."