A look back at the history of ROTC at USU
By: Shanie Howard
Utah State University is well known for its origins of being the agricultural college of Utah, but in addition to that, USU is also known for its military science training.
From 1888 to 1957 two years of military training was required for all male students at the school. This training wasn’t meant to teach men attending the Agricultural College of Utah — the name of USU at the time — to become professional soldiers, but rather to “teach men to be capable of drilling their neighbors for service,” as stated in the 1890 ACU catalog.
Men weren’t the only ones with the chance to participate in military based activities at the time though. In 1893, the Army Corps of Sponsors — Sponsors Corp, for short — was created, allowing women to participate in the army by helping them foster interest in the newly formed Cadet Battalion.
Although it might not seem like much in the twenty-first century, this sort of program was the first of its kind at the time and allowed women to be more active in the military than they had been before. The program was not disbanded until women were allowed into officer producing programs.
In 1916, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Jim Bridger Battalion was officially established. The battalion was named after famous frontiersmen Jim Bridger.
“We want to see traits in our cadets from men such as Jim Bridger … He was very self-aware of what the land was like and was able to relay that,” said Captain Michael Anderson, a current instructor for USU’s ROTC.
By 1931 ACU’s ROTC had over 500 cadets and had even formed a marching band which performed at football and basketball games.
Despite the growing popularity of ACU’s ROTC, the program found itself at risk of being disbanded. Once WWII ended, the school considered shutting down the program entirely until they received a letter from General George C. Marshall demanding that the ROTC program be reinstated immediately.
By 1949 the ROTC Jim Bridger Battalion had over 2,200 cadets and was officially declared “The West Point of the West” by the War Department due to its massive number of graduating cadets, which was second only to the West Point Military Academy located in Orange County, New York.
Today the ROTC is still active at USU, commissioning more than 15 second lieutenants annually.
“I feel proud of the USU’s ROTC, a lot of the fame still carries forward as we tend to produce very high quality Cadets,” said Connor Taberski, a international studies major.
— shaniehoward214@gmail.com