New ROTC officers commissioned
Posted by Scott Anderson
The guest speaker of the 91st annual commissioning ceremony of the Georgetown University Army ROTC was a man who had gone through the same ROTC ceremony at Gaston Hall 39 years earlier: Gen. George Casey Jr., chief of staff of the U.S. Army and a 1970 graduate of the Walsh School of Foreign Service.
“In just a few minutes, you’ll be our Army’s newest second lieutenants,” Casey told the 26 cadets Friday, as an audience of a few hundred family members and friends looked on. “It will be leaders like you who will lead this country to victory and through our greatest, most difficult challenges yet. I’m proud of you because you epitomize what is best about the United States of America.”
The four-star general, who had previously served as commander of the multinational force in Iraq before being named Army chief of staff, noted that most of the cadets were in high school on Sept. 11, 2001, when extremists attacked the nation and that the United States had been at war for nearly eight years — the longest-ever stretch for an all-volunteer Army. Such times call for “leaders of character and intellect,” he said.
Speaking before Casey, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia told the cadets, “I know that your decision to participate in ROTC was one that required great thought, great courage, great sacrifice and great character. I know that taking your military science classes, leadership labs and field training exercises — on top of your university course-load — required discipline and hard work.
“Knowing the hours that are kept by our undergraduates, it was no small feat to be up and active for your early morning workouts,” he added, to audience laughter.
The Georgetown University ROTC program also encompasses cadets from American University, Catholic University of America and George Washington University. Georgetown’s education of military leaders dates back to the early 19th century.
