This handful of the student body forms Asbury's lesser-known but growing Army and Air Force ROTC program. Asbury College formally contracted with University of Kentucky's Army ROTC several years ago, and added an Airforce contract in June of 1997. In this, UK agreed to include Asbury students in its general ROTC training program. Asbury was prompted to begin the program for a variety of reasons. It's a really good deal.
Students have the option of beginning ROTC classes as a no-commitment way of checking out the army.
Once they commit to an ROTC scholarship, students are required to enlist in the U.S. Army Reserves for a period of eight years and accept a four-year commission in the U.S. Army upon completion of the required academic and military courses. During weekly lab classes at UK, students gain more hands-on experience. Asbury's ROTC students had many reasons for choosing this unusual route through college. Some, such as freshman Jason Smedberg, come from families with strong Army ties and choose the ROTC as a way of finding out more for themselves. Others see it as a good way to get through an expensive college education.