On 18 September 1947, the United States Air Force became a separate and equal branch of the Department of Defense. Following World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower signed General Order No. 124, which established Army Air Force ROTC detachments at 77 universities and colleges across the nation. With the creation of the U.S. Air Force, these detachments were separated from the Army ROTC. One of these newly independent units was Detachment 800 at the University of Tennessee, which began in 1947.
Since then, Air Force ROTC has expanded, growing in both the number of cadets and the number of institutions where students can earn a commission. In 1973, active-duty Air Force enlisted personnel pursuing a college degree became eligible to compete for the Air Force ROTC Airman Scholarship and Commissioning Program. Since 1993, Air Force ROTC has been under the Air Education and Training Command. Following the merger of Air Force ROTC and Officer Training School, the two are now commanded by the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools. Today, Air Force ROTC operates four region headquarters, 144 detachments, and over 900 cross-town universities.
Detachment 800 at the University of Tennessee has been training Air Force officers for over 80 years, drawing from a university with a rich academic and military history. Volunteers from this institution have served their nation in every war, from the French and Indian War to the Global War on Terror. Every cadet at Detachment 800, from 1844 to the present, shares one thing in common: THEY VOLUNTEERED!
