The History Behind ROTC

Although JROTC was only started in 1916, the concept of joining education and military training goes back as far as the ancient Greeks.

Centuries before the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) existed, Greeks, Romans, and Feudal Europe all had their own different versions of training young people to have patriotism and the will to defend thier nation.

In the United States, JROTC began in Norwich, Vermont in 1819 when Captain Alden Partridge, a graduate of West Point, founded the Scientific and Military Academy, now known as Norwich University.

He felt that if his cadets were not prepared to defend their nation, then their education was not complete. The cadets' curriculum consisted of math, science, five foriegn languages, intense physical training, and military history as far back as 500 BC.

Since Captain Partridge first successfully combined military and academic studies, JROTC has spread to more than 850 high schools in the U.S., Guam, and Puerto Rico.

The History Behind the Cardinal Battalion

Bellaire JROTC opened with the school in 1950 under NDCC (National Defense Cadet Corps). Around the end of the Vietnam conflict, in 1975, the program closed due to unpopularity.

In 1995, the program reopened as the 20th Battalion under COL James Shoff. COL Shoff retired in 2002, and LTC Dennis O'Driscoll filled the empty SAI spot. The program under LTC O'Driscoll has risen to the top ten of JROTC programs in HISD, and has reached a record 216 cadets in fall 2004.

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