Helping Today's Youth Meet Life's Challenges
Our program mission is to instill in students in United States secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.
The NJROTC program was established by Public Law in 1964 and may be found in Title 10, U.S. Code, Chapter 102. The program is conducted at accredited secondary schools throughout the nation, by instructors who are retired Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel. The NJROTC curriculum emphasizes citizenship and leadership development, as well as our maritime heritage, the significance of sea power, and naval topics such as the fundamentals of naval operations, seamanship, navigation and meteorology. Classroom instruction is augmented throughout the year by community service activities, drill competition, field meets, flights, visits to naval activities, marksmanship training, and other military training. Uniforms, textbooks, training aids, travel allowance, and a substantial portion of instructors' salaries are provided by the Navy.
Cmdr. Axel Spens grew up in Morgantown, W.Va. He served in the Navy for 22 years as a submarine officer. He was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1994 from Vanderbilt University and graduated from David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. He was named as a 1993 Academic All-American athlete in cross country. In 2000, he received a Master of Public Administration degree from Valdosta State University. He has been stationed in Florida, Charleston, S.C., Virginia, Memphis, Seattle, Hawaii, and Connecticut. He served on five submarines in four ports. He deployed twice to the Mediterranean, twice to the Western Pacific, seven times on strategic patrols, and worked with the Australian, Korean, Japanese, and Royal Navy. He has also served as an instructor at Naval Nuclear Power School, as an aide at the Pentagon, as a Legislative Fellow in Washington DC, and as the commanding officer of Navy Recruiting District, Atlanta.