Most military schools in the United States are educational institutions that place a high emphasis on military preparation, academic rigor, and physical fitness. Most military schools are private and have high tuition, with financial aid available. [1] [2]
Students at these academies are organized as cadets, and graduate with appropriate licenses from the U.S. Coast Guard and/or the U.S. Merchant Marine. While not immediately offered a commission as an officer within a service, cadets do have the opportunity to participate in commissioning programs like the Strategic Sealift Officer Force (Navy) and Maritime Academy Graduate (Coast Guard).
Four institutions are considered military junior colleges. These four schools participate in the Army's two-year Early Commissioning Program (ECP), an Army ROTC program in which qualified students can earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant after only two years of college. The four Military Junior Colleges are:
These military academies are part of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program and are partly funded by the United States Department of Defense. Chicago with six academies has more than any other city, a third of all in the country. [3]
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.
Oliver Prince Smith was a U.S. Marine four-star general and decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He is most noted for commanding the 1st Marine Division during the first year of the Korean War, and notably during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where he said "Retreat Hell! We're just attacking in another direction.", which is commonly misquoted as "Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction." He retired at the rank of four-star general, being advanced in rank for having been specially commended for heroism in combat.
The National Society of Pershing Rifles is a military-oriented honor society for college-level students founded in 1894 as a drill unit at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It is the oldest continuously operating US college organization dedicated to military drill. Originally named Varsity Rifles, members renamed the organization in honor of their mentor and patron, Lieutenant John J. Pershing, upon his departure from the university in 1895.
General Thomas Dresser White was the fourth Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.
Staff colleges train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For example, an officer may be sent to various staff courses: as a captain they may be sent to a single service command and staff school to prepare for company command and equivalent staff posts; as a major to a single or joint service college to prepare for battalion command and equivalent staff posts; and as a colonel or brigadier to a higher staff college to prepare for brigade and division command and equivalent postings.
Horace Meek Hickam was a pioneer airpower advocate and an officer in the United States Army Air Corps. Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, is named in his honor.
The Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States (AMCSUS) is a nonprofit service organization of schools with military programs approved by the Department of Defense and which maintain good standing in their regional accrediting organizations. The purpose, as put forth in the AMCSUS Constitution, is "to promote the common interest of all members and to advance their welfare; promote and maintain high scholastic, military and ethical standards in member schools; represent the mutual interests of the member schools before the Department of Defense as well as the general public; foster and extend patriotism and respect for duly constituted authority; and cultivate citizens who love peace and who strive to maintain it."
Karl Jack Bauer, was one of the founders of the North American Society for Oceanic History (NASOH) and a well-known naval historian. NASOH's K. Jack Bauer Award is named in his memory.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization of public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and higher education organizations. It has member campuses in all of the United States as well as the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories, Canada, and Mexico.
A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, is a type of military school intended to prepare cadets for a military life, with the school typically incorporating real military structure and ranks within their respective program.
A military town is a civilian municipality which is economically dependent upon or receives its greatest economic impetus from a nearby military installation, such as a military base or military academy.
Edwin Bowman Lyon (1892–1971) was an American major general.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military bases across the world. The program was originally created as part of the National Defense Act of 1916 and later expanded under the 1964 ROTC Vitalization Act.
Theodore David Martin is a lieutenant general in the United States Army who last served as the commanding general of the United States Army Combined Arms Center, commandant of the United States Army Command and General Staff College and commanding general of Fort Leavenworth from May 2021 to October 2022. Before that, he served as the Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he previously served as its 73rd Commandant of Cadets.
Walter C. Short was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the Spanish–American War, Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I, he attained the rank of brigadier general. Short was most notable for the organization and training of several units during the first World War, and his command of the 1st Cavalry Division between World War I and World War II.
Major General William Frazer Tompkins was a United States Army officer who was a graduate of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York in the famous class of 1915, also known as the class the stars fell on, and as such was a classmate of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, among many others who ultimately became general officers. During World War II he served on the War Department General Staff, where his responsibility was in planning for post-war demobilization.