CONTACT: John
Dowling, WVU Army ROTC
304.293.7546; John.Dowling@mail.wvu.edu
MEDIA ADVISORY: Mountaineer Battalion commissions 16 cadets as 2nd Lts.
WHAT: West Virginia University Army ROTC Cadets will be commissioned as 2nd Lts. during the Mountaineer Battalion’s annual commissioning ceremony.
WHEN: Thursday, May 11, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Main Ballroom, WVU Mountainlair
WHO: Brig. Gen. Bruce Hackett, Commanding General of the 451st Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) in Wichita, Kansas, is the keynote speaker. Hackett has served with distinction on active duty, in the Army Reserve and the Air National Guard over the past 36 years including three deployments to Southwest Asia. He has commanded at the company, battalion, brigade and division levels. A graduate of the U.S. Army War College, he lives in Pittsburgh and is the Staff Operations and Training Officer as a civilian for the 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.
Maj. Don Kirk, Professor of Military Science will present the WVU Army ROTC Cadets for commissioning. The Mountaineer Battalion traces its lineage back 150 years to the establishment of West Virginia University in 1867, which required the school to conduct military training as a land grant institution.
Of the 16 graduates being commissioned, three are West Virginia residents:
• Nicholas Bauer, Martinsburg, B.S. Civil Engineering, Corps of Engineers (Active Duty)
• William Mohr, Petersburg, B.A. International Studies, Signal Corps (Active Duty)
• Alexander Reimer, Kearneysville, B.A. Political Science, Military Police (Active Duty)
Army ROTC is a four-year progressive leadership development program. During classes, leadership labs, physical training and field training exercises, cadets learn first-hand what it takes to lead others, motivate groups and conduct missions as an officer in the United States Army. Upon graduation from WVU, cadets receive a commission as 2nd Lts. in the U.S. Army on Active Duty, in the Army National Guard, or in the Army Reserve, and become leaders for life.
WVU’s ROTC program was recognized in 2007-08 as the best program in the Eastern Region of the United States and was subsequently awarded the General Douglas MacArthur Award.
A total of 10 2nd Lts. of this spring’s commissioning class will transition to serve on active duty after completing a Basic Officer Leadership Course for their assigned Army career branch. Five cadets will be commissioned into the Army National Guard, three in West Virginia and one each in Vermont and Virginia. One cadet will commission into the Army Reserve.
NOTES: Photos from the ceremony will be available for download after 4 p.m. the day of the ceremony. Interviews with any of the newly-commissioned officers can be arranged on an individual basis. They will also be available after the ceremony.
-WVU-