Graduation can signify the beginning of a new job, internship or uncertainty for students. For a select few, however, it means taking the next step toward serving their country.
More than 20 University of Mississippi ROTC cadets will receive their degree, commission and promotion to second lieutenant at 5 p.m. next Saturday at Fulton Chapel on campus.
Typically, newly commissioned second officers have to wait a few months before leaving again for training experience in the branch they will serve. Graduates will enter a branch-specific leadership course which will determine whether they become infantrymen, cavalry, aviation or another type of officer.
“Commissioning marks both the end of an incredibly challenging and eye-opening college experience and the beginning of a chapter that will allow us to take the lessons we’ve learned and use them in actively changing lives and leading our soldiers in combat,” Cadet Harry Phillips said.
Phillips, a Chattanooga native, will graduate with an English degree this Saturday. Afterwards, he will serve as an Infantry officer in the National Guard while educating children through Teach for America after graduation.
Once graduates assemble, they will take the oath of commission and swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is a significant moment in their military careers and education, one that Phillips said civilian students may not grasp.
“One thing many people do not understand is that the commissioners are not just joining the military but are being appointed as Army officers by the (President of the United States) due to his “special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and abilities” of the new second lieutenants,” Cadet Buckley Dowdle said.
An Olive Branch native, Dowdle will serve as an ordnance officer in the Logistics Branch with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He will graduate with a degree in Accounting.
“Many will be commissioning into the Mississippi Army National Guard, enduring the rigors of serving both their nation and their state while also excelling in civilian careers,” Dowdle said. “Others will serve in the active duty component of the Army, serving and deploying as full time soldiers.”
Dowdle said lieutenants will serve as platoon leaders leading between 30 and 50 soldiers within a year of graduation.
Graduting Cadets:
William Alexander
James Golden
Cody Becker
Brooks Hillhouse
Paul Boddeker
Daniel Holloran
Tiffany Burgess
Zach Howard
Brittany Byrd
John Larkin
Bela J. Chain
Dante Oliver
Buckley Dowdle
Harry Phillips
George Erwin
Michael Resha
Tyler Fortenberry
Gabriel Saade
Patrick Fugate
Todd Sheffield
Cory Fuller
Henry Thompson
Olivia Vinzant
