After a nearly four-decade absence, the same army officer training program that launched the legendary career of Gen. Colin Powell is back at CUNY.

Powell, a City College of New York alum and former Secretary of State, was on hand yesterday for the return of the Army Senior Reserve Officers Training Corps program — which disappeared from CUNY and most colleges amid the Vietnam War protests.

ROTC programs at City College in Manhattan, Medgar Evers in Brooklyn and York College in Queens, aim to graduate 40 army officers per year.