The UCCS Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) recently celebrated the commissioning of 39 cadets.
“This year, we had an absolutely gifted and special class,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Campbell, Professor of Military Science, who helps oversee the Army ROTC program at UCCS.
The commissioning ceremony signifies the start of their military career as an officer in the U.S. Army. It shows that they’ve completed their degree – usually a bachelor’s, although in this class, about 20% are earning their masters – and have completed at least four semesters of ROTC.
While most Army ROTC cadets take the full four years, it’s possible to do it in two with credit for prior service. In this year’s class, about half of the cadets had come from active duty.
The cadets have also passed a summer program known as Advanced Camp, a 35-day assessment course that tests their key soldier skills and gives them targeted feedback on their leadership attributes and competencies.
All of the newly commissioned officers also went through a process called ‘branching,’ where they compete for the job they’ll get as an officer.
“There are 18 basic branches that an officer can get,” Lt. Col. Campbell explained. “They do recorded interviews, fill out an online profile with their strengths and weaknesses, and complete a self-assessment, and then they rank the branches they’re most interested in.”
This year, the cadets were largely interested in military intelligence, which commonly makes the top of the cadets’ lists, and infantry, which usually does not.
“That’s not normal for our school,” Lt. Col. Campbell explained. “We normally have a lot of medical service, military intelligence, quartermaster, but this year infantry was really popular. So it varies each year.”
All of these efforts culminate in the commissioning ceremony, where they’ll take their oath of office and get their rank pinned on for the first time.
The ceremony is particularly meaningful for the cadets, who get to choose who will pin their Second Lieutenant rank on for the first time, as well as select an enlisted soldier, or non-commissioned officer, to render the first salute.
“That will be the first time ever that they drop their salute first,” Lt. Col. Campbell explained. “In the Army, the senior person drops their salute first, since they are the person being saluted, and for a lieutenant, pretty much everyone who walks by, you’re not going to drop first since you’re the most junior person there is.”
After the first salute, the newly commissioned officers also receive a silver dollar, an Army tradition.
“There’s a big history behind it,” Lt. Col. Campbell said. “Basically, back in earlier times, officers paid non-commissioned officers, and while we don’t do that now, it still pays tribute to that old heritage, the taking care of our non-commissioned officers.”
After the ceremony, the officers are ready to go active duty and start their careers at military bases across the globe.
“We typically get a couple that go overseas, and then some that have formed connections in other parts of the country that they want to get back to,” Lt. Col. Campbell said.
And, for this year’s class, getting where they want to go will be easy. “Their performance, when compared nationally, was off the charts,” said Lt. Col. Campbell.
89% of the cadets in this class got their first branch pick, which is, in the words of Lt. Col. Campbell, “a credit to them as well, and really, really good.”
“That’s one of those things we shoot for, because that means most of them will go exactly where they wanted to go,” he said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Included in the 274 programs in the United States are some “huge military colleges,” Lt. Col. Campbell explained, “which might have 300 cadets.” All of the cadets nationwide attend the summer Advanced Camp, where they can be evaluated against their peers.
Of UCCS’s 39-cadet class, 11 of them – over 25% – were rated as the best cadet in their platoon at Advanced Camp.
“Eleven of them were rated as the number one out of 40 in their platoon,” Lt. Col. Campbell said with pride. “Those 40 all come from those different schools, and nobody, no other program out of the 274 programs, even if they had 300 cadets to our 39, we had more number one rated cadets than they did. Which is crazy, right? They had 300 chances to get a number one cadet, and we had 39 – and we had 11. So they’re just a special class.”
Lt. Col. Campbell went on to describe how, throughout their time at UCCS, this class always raised the bar.
“They continually made things better, and they really cared about what they delivered for the classes below them, which is truly commendable” he said. “They took on every mission I could give them. I pushed them a lot harder, and they did great.”
Although the scoring methods of Advanced Camp change from year to year, the UCCS Army ROTC program consistently performs well.
“Out of the 36 schools in our program, we’re always toward the top,” Lt. Col. Campbell said. “For instance, this year, we won Best Medium-Size program out of our school brigade.”
For context, the brigade that the UCCS Army ROTC program is in includes all of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
“Every Army ROTC program in those states, that’s who we compete against,” Lt. Col. Campbell explained. “And we got the best Medium-Size program. So it’s been a legacy of success with our cadets.”