Blazer Battalion

The Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at UAB, known as the Blazer Battalion, began in the Fall of 1980 as part of a TRADOC project known as Expand the Base. UAB was one of the forty-one universities from around the country selected to become an extension center. The goal of the program was to increase the Army's output of junior officers. An extension center relationship was established with the University of Alabama.

As an extension center, no formal contract was initiated between the U.S. Army and UAB. Rather a "Memorandum of Agreement" was drafted and approved by the president of UAB and the Professor of Military Science (PMS) of the University of Alabama. This agreement directed the operation of an extension center predicated on academic credit for ROTC, university support facilities and equal opportunity to compete for ROTC scholarships with VA students.

In October 1983, UAB applied for and received designation as a host institution.

In April 2019, the ROTC program moved into a new building located at 828 8th Court South.

External Links

• Blazer Battalion history at UAB