Reserve Officers' Training Corps Service Medal

From Alternative History

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Service Medal is a proposed service medal of the United States military.

Contents 1 Service 2 Instituted 3 Criteria 4 Precedence 5 Description 6 Devices 7 Components 8 Background 9 Notes

[edit] Service

All Services

[edit] Instituted

2010, retroactive to 1916

[edit] Criteria

Honorable completion of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program

[edit] Precedence

Ranks last among campaign and service medals, above training ribbons

[edit] Description

• The medal is a bronze disk 1-1/4 inches in width. On the obverse is an eight-point compass rose with the seals of the Army at northwest, Marine Corps at northeast, Navy at southwest, and Air Force at southeast. Over the center of the compass is a lamp of learning superimposed on a upraised broadsword. On the reverse, within a wreath formed by a branch of oak on the left and a branch of olive on the right with the stems joined at the bottom by a conventional bow-knot, is the inscription FOR SERVICE on one line above a constellation of thirteen stars arranged in five lines as 1-4-3-4-1 on a disk encircled by clouds.
• The ribbon is 1-3/8 inches wide and consists of the following vertical stripes: 9-16 inch Raith Blue 5B5E7D; 1-4 inch Nero Black 202020; 9-16 inch Raith Blue 5B5E7D.
  note: Raith Blue is an approximation of the “Cadet Grey” common to military school dress uniforms, closer color representations might exist.

[edit] Devices

A silver service star is authorized for an award in the First-class; a bronze silver service for an award in the Second-class:

First-class	Second-class	Third-class

[edit] Components

• Regular standard medal
• Miniature anodized medal
• Ribbon bar
• Miniature ribbon bar
• Lapel pin
• Hat pin
• Streamer (for appropriate ROTC unit flags)

[edit] Background

An award in the First-class is authorized to those who have earned a Bachelor’s degree from, and honorably completed four years of training at one of the five Federal Service Academies (in order of founding):

• United States Military Academy at West Point
• United States Naval Academy at Annapolis
• United States Coast Guard Academy at New London
• United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point
• United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs

An award in the Second-class is authorized to those who have earned a Bachelor’s degree from, and honorably completed four years of ROTC training at one of the six Senior Military Colleges (in order of founding):

• Norwich University
• Virginia Military Institute
• The Citadel
• Texas A&M University
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• North Georgia College and State University

An award in the Third-class is authorized to those who have earned a Bachelor’s degree from, and honorably completed four years of ROTC training at civilian colleges.

Those who have earned an Associate’s degree from, and honorably completed the Early Commissioning Program (ECP) at one of the five Military Junior Colleges (in order of founding):

• Marion Military Institute
• Georgia Military College
• Wentworth Military Academy
• New Mexico Military Institute
• Valley Forge Military Academy

are also provisionally awarded the Third-class. This may be "upgraded" to the appropriate-class service medal upon earning their Bachelor’s degree, often in the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP), as is required by the ECP.

[edit] Notes

Awarding of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Service Medal could become part of the formal graduating ceremony from ROTC programs.