This article is featured in the 2024 Freshman special issue.
Since 1951, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Dartmouth has prepared students to commission as officers in the United States Army after their graduation. This fall, 10 members of the Class of 2028 will join the Delta Company, Captain Joshua Kresowaty wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
The 10 new cadets represent a notable increase from recent years. The company is set to receive nearly twice as many freshmen prior to matriculation as there are current cadets on campus. There are currently three cadets in the Class of 2027, two in the Class of 2026 and one in the Class of 2025. Kresowaty attributed the growth to a “big push” in recruitment efforts, such as tabling events, calls, talks and direct outreach from current cadets.
The ROTC recruitment process starts when a student “express[es] interest” in the program, according to Kresowaty.
“Once the initial contact has been made, we typically sit down and have a conversation on what ROTC is like and what a career in the Army could look like,” he wrote.
Company commander Dylan Griffith ’25 said he began hosting virtual information sessions for prospective recruits during his sophomore year as “part of an intentional strategy” to attract new students.
That same year, the University of New Hampshire became the host institution of the Wildcat Battalion, which is composed of the UNH program and satellite ROTC programs in New Hampshire and southern Maine. UNH pushed for the Dartmouth company to expand membership to meet the Army’s commission requirements for ROTC programs, Griffith explained.
According to Kresowaty, UNH recruiting operations officer Joseph Laplante “coordinates several recruiting opportunities in the community” and increases awareness that “ROTC opportunities exist here at Dartmouth.”
Company first sergeant Anne-Sarah Nichitiu ’26 said the ROTC application process differs for each student and each branch of the military. Prospective recruits can apply to the program during their senior year of high school before or after they are accepted to the College, she explained. Others join after arriving on campus, according to Nichitiu.
Kresowaty wrote that he has a phone conversation with prospective cadets in high school before directing them to apply on the Army ROTC website. Those who are interested in joining ROTC after matriculating at the College are invited to attend program classes, leadership labs or physical training, Kresowaty wrote. According to Griffith, students can apply to join the ROTC program up until their junior year.
“Once they decide that seeking a commission is something they want to do, we work on getting them contracted,” Kresowaty wrote.
According to Kresowaty, the ROTC program is a “great opportunity” to develop the “future leaders of the Army.” He wrote that he was inspired to work with the ROTC program because he had a “fantastic experience” and “great mentorship” during his time as an ROTC cadet at Texas Christian University.
“I reflected on that experience and sought out to give back and provide that level of mentorship to aspiring Army officers,” he wrote.
He added that his goal is to ensure cadets are “well-equipped” to lead soldiers once they commission into the Army.
“Being responsible for the health, welfare and morale of those you lead is a big task that requires leaders to be involved and make decisions that are legal, moral and ethical on a daily basis,” Kresowaty wrote.
Nichitiu — who applied to college through the four-year ROTC scholarship application process — said the program offered her an opportunity to “combine rigorous academics” with the military’s “service component.”
“It’s my way of saying, ‘Thank you’ to the United States and … a number of soldiers and … inspiring individuals who have changed the way in which American society works as a whole [and] also globally,” Nichitiu said. “I’ve wanted to be a part of such an organization and … make my own changes to improve it in the ways in which I can.”
During the four-year scholarship application process, which takes place during an applicant’s senior year of high school, applicants go through an interview process and rank universities that they would like to accept scholarships at, according to Nichitiu. Interviewers also rank the applicants, who then choose a university at which to accept a scholarship, Nichitiu added.
Nathaniel Attia ’27 applied for the ROTC scholarship after he was accepted to Dartmouth, explaining that the program allowed him to receive “really good training” while also “satisfy[ing]” his “academic curiosity.”
“I thought about [the] service academies, but at the end of the day, I think by doing something like ROTC at a school like Dartmouth, you’re really getting the best of both worlds,” Attia said.
Attia added that ROTC brought him close to the other two recruits in his class as they worked and trained together.
“I would consider them some of my closest friends at Dartmouth because we saw each other every day [and] had to deal with the same things,” he said.
Cadets often become a “fairly close-knit community” because of the time they spend together “outside of a military context,” Nichitiu said. During her first year, she befriended older cadets because she was initially the only recruit in her year — leading her to take on roles typically filled by older cadets. For example, she served as the captain of the color guard during her freshman year.
“[That] is not a role that our freshmen will [be in] this year because there’s a lot of them,” Nichitiu said. “They’ll have their own cohort, and they will definitely have their own camaraderie.”
Griffith said cadets develop bonds because they are “forced to depend on one another” during rigorous field training exercises that take place over several days and involve ROTC programs from other institutions. He added that programs in the Wildcat Battalion participate in field training together “at least twice a year.”
“When you see another Dartmouth ROTC person [at a field training exercise], it just makes your day,” Griffith said. “That’s saying something because we all come from very different backgrounds, … upbringings, political affiliations [and] socioeconomic statuses.”
ROTC training looks different for each class cohort, Nichitiu said. Freshman cadets typically do three hours of physical training, two hours of military lab training in the field and one hour of military science class each week for the entire academic year.
Cadets are required to take a combination of basic and advanced ROTC-specific military science courses, according to the ROTC at Dartmouth website. The courses are taught by the cadre — officers responsible for training a unit — and prepare cadets for eventually leading a squad or platoon. According to the Army ROTC at Cornell website, all students at a college are eligible to take the basic level courses, which include lessons on leadership communication and time management. Advanced level courses, which teach in-depth tactical preparation, require students to be contracted into ROTC.
“The classes cover content that is helpful for executing labs,” Attia said. “How to read a map, for example, might be a class, and then the next week, they’ll go out and … practice.”
According to Griffith, freshman and sophomore year military science classes offer “very fundamental” instruction and cover topics such as the organization and makeup of the military. In contrast, junior year military science classes prepare cadets for Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, K.Y. — a culminating officer training that typically takes place during the summer of junior year — which covers topics such as battle drills and mission leadership, Griffith said.
As cadets get older, the length of military science classes increase and cadets begin to take on leadership roles in the company, according to Nichitiu.
“I’ll be the first sergeant for our company, so that means that I have half of the role of a senior of preparing for Tuesday labs and also being in charge of [physical] training,” Nichitiu said.
According to Attia, Dartmouth cadets spend less time on training compared to other ROTC programs.
“That’s not to say that it’s worse, but we’re more efficient,” Attia said. “We cover more with less, and we get on average better outcomes for our cadets.”
Griffith added that he is able to balance his ROTC training with several leadership positions in other student organizations.
“[ROTC] just is part of who you are,” he said.
