St. Bonaventure ROTC

The St. Bonaventure ROTC began in 1936.  When the program started it became a mandatory part of the St. Bonaventure curriculum.  The requirement was lifted in 1970.  The ROTC saw changes through it’s service life, including the transition to standard army training on the onset of the second world war.  The training and focus of the University program was that of artillery. 

Robinson and Falconio hall – currently in use as freshman dormitories were built as military barracks. 

The ROTC or the Reserve Officer Training Corps has two key historical moments which lead to the establishment of the system which is in place and still active at St. Bonaventure.

According to the Cadet Command Army website the first of these events began with the effort of Captain Alden Partridge where he sought to incorporate a military training into educational systems. A quote from him to further describe this program was "producing citizen-soldiers". Many academic institutions adopted this program to keep officers available in times of peace. This lead to officers educated within this system serving for both the Union and the Confederacy durning the Civil war.

The second major development to create the modern system of the Reserve Officer Training Corps was the Plattsburg movement. This movement which was supported and pushed by those in the United States that supported the Allied forces during the start of the First World War. The reasoning behind this support was that those supporters felt that there were not a sufficient level of combat ready or trained troops should the United States be dragged into the war. Following the momentum of this movement the National Defense Act of 1916 established the ROTC as stands today.

Accessed December 1st, 2022. https://www.cadetcommand.army.mil/history.aspx.