Should we consider sending ROTC cadets to attend BCT instead of ROTC CIET (formerly Leadership Training Camp)?

Yes.

IMO, if nothing else it will instill discipline and give "straight to commissioning" (non prior service) officers an idea of what the enlisted Soldiers go through.

Officers' decisions directly affect their troops. When an Officer has had their boots in the same place as their troops, it allows them to make better decisions.

It was about 29 years ago that I was in ROTC, can you explain the difference?

Yes - although I would say that at least LTC (or whatever it is called now) should be mandatory. Just 4 years of ROTC is not necessarily enough to develop dsicipline, professionalism, and the military mindset. Although this is highly dependent on the individual program and staff. BCT or LTC can help to minimize this variation by giving all cadets a baseline of the Army culture. Another argument formandatory BCT attendence is that it lessens the cultural gaps between leaders and soldiers. I have overheard remarks from soldiers along the lines of "officer so-and-so never went to basic, so he/she wouldn't know." There is something to be said of shared experiences that can solidify a team. To those that state BCT does not teach the same skills, my only counter argument is that OCS candidates and prior enlisted were still required to attend, so why not cadets? (Typed on my phone, so I apologize for formatting)

Why not do both?

BCT is basic indoctrination and would make them better leaders by helping them understand what their Soldiers go through and provide a shared experience.

So Gentlemen, From the bottom looking up; I can't see how BCT would teach that young officer anything about leading that it truly needs to know. But, I am not sure the current path is doing much either. Craig Mullaney's " The Unforgiving Minute" touches on this a little. And, he is a West Point guy.

I don't know about other Branches, but as I have seen, the combat arms basic courses are about the only Basic courses that are getting a good portion of leadership focus across. The Signal Corp is actively training Officers to fail, in so much that we have called it the SOB Course.

With that being said, the Branch schools are the ones that should be responsible of drilling leadership into these officers. That is when it really becomes real for these young men and women.
I would like it if all officers attended a baseline of training prior to, or after basic course. That way, as the senior NCO in the company, I know the basic skill sets taught to every single one of my new officers. As it is now, it is hit or miss what the officer was taught prior to going to Basic Course.

I would do the same to SSGs too. That way I know every SSG has a baseline of skill sets. As it is now, the Army is not "equally yoked" with its ALC and SLC courses.

This is my dream, I highly doubt the army will move in this direction.

So this is an interesting debate that, as an MSIII cadet cadre for CIET, I've had with my fellow cadre both cadet and real army. Though it would seem obvious that Basic would be a good choice for cadets to attend but you have to look deeper into the objectives and limitations of the ROTC program. ROTC is a pre-commissioning program, which means it exists to develop cadets into 2LTs, so the requirements of participants is different from enlistees. We are trying to develop our leadership abilities which would necessitate that we understand the level 1 tasks taught at basic. However most cadets who attend CIET (or when it used to be LTC) are still civilians, not even having signed a contract to join ROTC so there are limitations and it is also intended to give them a taste of what the Army is like without going FR. This is unlike Academy Cadets who have madde a commitment to serve. Next, and most importantly, cadets are not privates and should be trained differently because of this fact. Army leaders must be able to think critically and make decisions which is different from what the private is being trained to do. Therefore training must be different and foster this kind of thinking. Lastly, CIET/LTC exists to prepare cadets for CLC (formerly LDAC) in which leadership is further developed and evaluated. That being the case the roots of what is important at CLC must be taught at CIET.

Now I have yet to go through it, but I imagine BOLC-B goes into more detail about working in an Army environment that privates would learn at BCT so there isn't anything missed. I did howevver find value in my fellow cadets at CLC that had prior service and had been through BCT. They make great officers and add to the diversity of experience of the officer corps.

No I don't believe that incoming Cadets should attend BCT. I myself am a graduate of LTC (Leaders Training Camp) and I found it to be a very educational course that was completely voluntarily.

If you send Cadets to BCT it wouldn't give them the option upon completion the decide "Hey, maybe this whole Army thing isn't for me". LTC does give these prospective cadets that option without signing a contract.

I believe Cadet Command is doing a excellent job giving these prospective cadets a taste of what the Army is like and allowing them to make their own decision based on whether or not being in the Army is their best choice.

I would!

Col,
The nice thing about basic training is your future 2LT's upon graduation will be pushing troops around in their units and have had no direct contact with the soldiers. One reason I left AD was that one gets tired of being messed with by a snot nosed 2LT trying to make a name for them selves. Their training should be mixed in with regular soldiers going through. This way the cadet get to experience basic as a recruit arriving to the reception point.

I went to Fort Knox for Basic ROTC Camp (July 1976). We had DIs and were in a basic training Battalion and treated the same as E1s except we were all College Juniors. Once ROTC Basic Camp was over, the unit and DIs went back to training E1s.

The next year (1977) I went to Fort Riley for our ROTC Advanced Camp. I remembered that I was tired for first in the morning land nav group in the morning and also in the afternoon.

I have no idea of what LTC is, but there were a lot of ROTC Cadre from all the different Colleges and Universities in our Region who also helped with training/admin/support.