MARINE CORPS JUNIOR RESERVE OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS
"It may be laid down as a primary position and the basis of our system, that every citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defense of it.... "

General George Washington.
Letter to a Congressional Committee, (1783).

The United States formed its first "reserve" forces under the Militia Act of 1792. Not until 1903, when the National Guard was formed, did the country become serious about military readiness. Five years later, a Medical Corps reserve, as opposed to the "state-owned" National Guard, was formed and the Army Reserve followed in 1912. The Navy Appropriations Act of 1916 allowed the Marine Corps to exceed its regular and wartime manpower ceilings. By the close of World War I in November 1918, over 6,000 officers and men of the Corps were classed as "Reserves." Under this category, the first women Marines were recruited in August 1918. By the end of the war, there were 305 Marine Reserves (female) serving as clerks, chiefly in HQ Marine Corps. Under the 1925 legislation, the USMC's reserve personnel were reorganized.

The National Defense Act of 1916 provided for reserve forces in the US - It also created a training program known as the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). This was a civilian college-based program. It was a supplement to formal education at the two US service academies, West Point (USMA) and Annapolis (USNA). Following World War II, Congress changed the ROTC program to include a Junior Division (Class HS) for high schools.