In the 40s would the Army send soldiers to teach a Military High School?

This movie was released one month after Pearl Harbor, so it was made before the U.S. went to war. He was already working at the military academy, but was trying to be put on active duty (because at this point a lot of Americans believed war was very likely). His fiancee was very well connected within the military community and she was the one making sure that wouldn't happen. Once the war started, I'm sure there was no intervening from the fiancee that would have made a difference :-)

Movies were generally made much more quickly before the war. There were exceptions, but most completed filming in a few weeks with the entire production from concept to finished negative in a few months. This film was not released until well into 1942, so I expect that it was filmed entirely during calendar year 1942. The setting is before the war, but that is the setting, not the time of filming. Note that a cadet talks to the heroine about the failure of the Maginot Line. That happened in 1940.

Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) began at a high school, I think it was in Montana, in 1915. It did not move to colleges until the 1920s. ROTC has continued at the high school level right up through today. Once ROTC began at the college level, they renamed high school level ROTC 'Junior ROTC.' It was and is a line item in the Department of War (now Department of Defense) budget. The classes are required to be taught by commissioned officers and serving NCOs.

In 1962 the Congress updated the law. Junior ROTC was expanded to include navy, marine corps, and air force programs. At that time Congress also changed the law to allow officers and NCOs retired from active duty to teach the courses. That is how it continues to this day. Junior ROTC can take the place of one to two years of college level ROTC, thus allowing a graduate of a high school with JROTC to complete commissioning requirements in two years instead of four. However, that student will probably need to complete four years of college to earn a baccalaureate.

I know all this because I taught Junior ROTC at a high school for five years after retiring from 25 years in the air force.



The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

You went where the Army sent you.