ROTC Scholarships: The Army Early Commissioning Program
Welcome to the ROTC scholarship podcast, hosted by former army ROTC, professor of military science,
Lieutenant Colonel retired, Rob Kirkland, in these episodes, we explore how to best prepare yourself to
obtain one of these valuable scholarships for those applicants who wish to attend a college or university
and become officers in the military. The application process can be complex and confusing. This podcast
works to make it more understandable. And now the ROTC scholarship podcast
Robert Kirkland:
Today, we're going to talk about the early commissioning program of the United States army. And today
we have a guest, a former captain EOD officer in a US army who is a graduate of an early commissioning
program, and then went on to a career as an army officer. So, I want to introduce to everybody, John
Vandivere. John is great to have you on the ROTC scholarship podcast. And we should first to learn a little
bit about yourself and your background and where you're at right now?
John Vandivere:
Yes, sir. Well, I appreciate you having me on, so a little bit about myself. I'm originally from Sacramento,
California. After graduating high school, I received a call from a small military college in Missouri
Wentworth military Academy, and they offered me a scholarship to commission as part of the ECP
program. And so I went there for two years and got my associates degree commissioned into the national
guard back home in California. And I commissioned into the infantry and the one 60th infantry regiment
out of Los Angeles. And I went to California Baptist university to finish my bachelor's degree. Once I
finished that in 2008, I was assessed ordinance. And so when I went active duty, I had the opportunity to
volunteer for the explosive ordnance disposal program. So after officer basic course, I spent a year in EOD
school down in Alabama and Florida. And from there, they sent me up to Alaska for three years. So I spent
three years up in Alaska in two different units, and then went to the caps career course in Virginia, before
filing out my career is a company commander in Missouri at Fort Leonard wood. After leaving the army
started a family have two daughters, Laila and Cora who were four and three. And I started working for
the Honda North American purchasing up in Ohio. I did that for about three and a half years, four years
before moving down to the Nashville area to become a high school teacher. During that time, I also
finished a master's degree in organizational leadership and I'm about one course away from finishing a
master's degree in education right now. So it's pretty much what's gone on the last several years here.
Robert Kirkland:
Yeah. So when you were finishing out your last two years to get your bachelor's degree at Cal Baptist, I
was your professor of military science at Claremont McKenna college in California. So, I'm sure in this
podcast, we'll talk about how ECP second lieutenants are sort of managed in our last two years before
they received their bachelor's degree. So we'll talk about that, but that's sort of both my background with
you and how I met you back in the late 2000. Yes, sir. Let's talk about the early commissioning program.
Now. You're obviously a product of that and that's why we're talking today. And I just want just to get an
idea of what that is and your background and in regards to the ECP.
John Vandivere:
Yes, sir. So the ECP program initially was created to support the reserve and national guard side of the
army. And at the time in the early two thousands, there were five military junior colleges. Now there's
only four and they're kind of scattered all over the country, but how it would work is as a freshman coming
straight out of high school into a traditional four-year program, your freshman year, you would be a
military science or MS1 cadet because of the ECP program. It's essentially an accelerated program. So as