Army JROTC currently has 1,744 programs with an estimated 280,000 cadets, Ives told Army Times. That's an increase from a decade ago when there were 1,709 programs with 246,500 cadets.

The Army's presence in what is now Yuma County dates back to the 1840s. Until now, however, the community has never had an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program.

The Army has some 1,734 JROTC programs in high schools across the country, each with a handful of instructors. Of that, there are some 500 instructor vacancies.