On June, 18 2021, the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) “Fighting Eagles” battalion conducted its Spring Commissioning Ceremony. Due to COVID mitigation measures, the ceremony was held in the EWU Fieldhouse with commissionees and guests wearing masks. The moderator for the commissioning ceremony was EWU Army ROTC Recruiting and Operations Officer (ROO), Ms. Linda Moody:
The path to this day was not an easy one for the commissionees. All the Cadets conducted up to 4 years of military training in the ROTC program, had to meet rigorous academic requirements, build strong physical fitness, among a host of other challenging requirements. The most challenging thing these young leaders had to face was having to commission in the midst of a deadly pandemic. The commissionees had to complete over a year of school entirely online and conduct their ROTC training partially online and in person with specified health and safety protocols. They are a truly remarkable group of young leaders well deserving to commission as Army officers.
The commissioning ceremony began with the singing of the national anthem followed by opening remarks by the EWU Army ROTC Professor of Military Science, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Jonathan Stafford.
Following the remarks from LTC Stafford, the guest speaker retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gary Nisker from the EWU Class of 1976 gave his speech. Chief Nisker provided some inspiring words to our Cadets about his time in ROTC to include a few humorous moments.
Following CW5 Nisker’s speech he was then inducted into the EWU Military Science Hall of Fame. EWU Army ROTC appreciates CW5 Nisker speaking to our Cadets and we congratulate him on becoming part of the Hall of the Fame:
After CW5 Nisker’s speech the Cadets the Cadets each came forward to be administered the Army Oath of Office to officially commission them as a 2LT into the U.S. Army.
The Cadets then had family members pin their rank on their uniforms:
After the pinning, the Cadets then received their first salute from a current or former enlisted person. After receiving the salute the Cadet then gives the enlisted person a silver dollar:
Congratulations to the following Cadets for commissioning as officers into the U.S. Army:
- 2LT Megan Baker / Nurse
- 2LT Austin Bristow / Transportation
- 2LT John Drohman / Engineer
- 2LT James Dutton / Engineer
- 2LT Collin Galbreath / Engineer
- 2LT Destin Garcia / Quartermaster
- 2LT Christian Goldbach / Aviation
- 2LT Liam Hewey / Armor
- 2LT Samantha Knight / Nurse
- 2LT Christopher Millward / Air Defense Artillery
Note: You can view many more pictures of all the commissionees on our EWU Army ROTC Flickr page.
