Howard University’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program honored nine Army cadets and 11 Air Force cadets in the first ROTC Joint Commissioning Address in Cramton Auditorium.
The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is a college program that is offered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States to prepare young adults to become officers in the U.S. military. In exchange for a paid college education and a guaranteed post-college career, cadets pledge to serve in the military after graduation.
Previously, Howard’s Air Force ROTC program and Army ROTC program honored their cadets in separate ceremonies. This year, staff, cadets and virtual guests gathered to share in excitement and pride as all cadets transitioned from officer trainees to commissioned officers together. As the first of 10 commencement ceremonies this week, the occasion was livestreamed on the Howard University commencement website.
President Wayne A. I. Fredrick ignited the event with a salute to the cadets for accepting the challenge to strengthen their skills, perseverance, knowledge and character during this past year of uncertainty. He spotlighted the efforts of the University founder, Oliver Otis Howard, a U.S. Union officer in the American Civil War who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1854. The creation of Air Force ROTC in 1917 at Howard University, which was created with his leadership in the military in mind, built a legacy that lives on today by encouraging cadets to serve.
“In ROTC at Howard University, the importance of leadership is made explicit and is given paramount prominence,” said Frederick. “Your motto is ‘Leadership, Truth and Service.’ While there are many different ways to lead, leadership for all of you is an expectation and an obligation. Our world is in desperate need of your leadership.”
The ROTC commissioning ceremony was an occasion full of groundbreaking firsts. Howard University welcomed the keynote speaker, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, and his wife, Hollyanne, to campus for the first time.
Gen. Milley, the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military adviser to the president, secretary of defense and National Security Council.
