May 06, 2021
MacArthur Award ranks Norwich as top ROTC program among Senior and Junior Military Colleges for 2019-20
Col. Joel Newsom told nearly 100 U.S. Army commissionees from Norwich University, some on Sabine Field and Haynes Family Stadium, some watching online, to celebrate their accomplishments, strive for more and lead empathetically.
During Saturday’s Norwich University 2021 U.S. Army ROTC ceremony, which occupied Sabine Field’s football gridiron after the Joint Commissioning ceremony finished, Newsom said the 98 Class of 2021 graduates in the ROTC detachment he leads had excelled in academics, leadership, physical fitness and community service.
Six Army ROTC cadets, he said, had ranked among the top 10 of all cadets within Cadet Command, 23 were named Distinguished Military Graduates and 90% earned their first rank choices, topping the Armywide average of 68%, and 96% got one of their top three branch choices. (The U.S. Army Cadet Command, formed in Apri
May 06, 2021
U.S. Air Force Reserve Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe lauds commissionees for defending Constitution and its ideals
They marched into Sabine Field, uniforms pressed, gazes purposeful, strides deliberate, ready for their long-awaited moment. Joint Commissioning was nigh, and before the Norwich University ROTC cadets swore into their armed forces branches, they’d sit their last collective stint together.
One hundred sixty-four Class of 2021 graduates would commission 98 into the U.S. Army; 40 into the U.S. Air Force; 16 into the U.S. Navy and 10 into the U.S. Marine Corps. (Two of the Air Force commissionees plan to later transition into the U.S. Space Force.) In his keynote speech, U.S. Air Force Reserve Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe, a 1986 Norwich grad who is also the Massachusetts National Guard’s adjutant general, would reflect on having sat in their seats and contemplated the future.