[kabar]

You could also receive a regular commission through the NROTC scholarship program.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Only IF you receive a four-year scholarship. (That's how I got my USN commission.

ROTC-source officers get USNR commissions.

Kerry went through the OTC (90-day wonder course) in Newport, RI. Officer Training Center.

Newport ONLY gives you a USNR commission, an requires a previous college degree; which is how my brother got his commission.

In the Vietnam era, the USUAL promotion cycle was greatly shortened: Almost all of the time in the late 60's and 70's you got a Ltjg promotion promotion form ensign after one year, then got a Ltjg-LT promotion after 2-3 years.

That Kerry FINALLY got his LT promotion after he left active duty early at four years indicates he was NOT "promotable" ....

Thus (being rejected for promotion) perhaps causes his hatred of the military (particularly the Navy!) and might show WHY Kerry was so desperate to get his medals rewritten and his discharge papers re-written decades after everybody else has "left Vietnam behind."