History
During the mid 1960s, a group of Army officers assigned to the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, began to meet informally in order to get to know each other better. Many of these officers had known each other in college or during other assignments. They, of course, had one additional thing in common at the time – how to "survive" at Fort Leavenworth. The group jokingly dubbed itself the "BLUE GEESE," a term well known at CGSC as the vehicle used to convey a special assignment to a student officer. When the school year ended, the group discovered that many were being assigned to the pentagon and other places in the greater Washington area.
Upon reaching Washington, several informal meetings followed. However, the emphasis was modified to deal with survival in the National Capitol Region and to address other issues of interest to the members. During the years which followed, many officers were reassigned in and out of the Washington area so the group continued to grow. The need for a more structured organization was also seen, so a formal meeting was held on October 9, 1974, to get the group formalized. Those present decided to call themselves the "No Name Club."
Background
The ROCKS, Inc. is a non-profit [501c(4)] organization comprised of active duty, reserve, retired, ROTC cadets, and former commissioned officers of the U.S. Armed Forces, widows and widowers of deceased members, and other uniformed services. The organization was formed to provide professional and social interaction/development to strengthen the officer corps. In addition to the R.C. Cartwright Scholarship Fund, the "Leadership Outreach" program provides the opportunity for teams consisting of ROCK members to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to provide professional career development guidance to ROTC students.