By Senator Tom Brewer
This week I have really good news for Western Nebraska. The ROTC program at Chadron College will be reinstated.
ROTC is an acronym for Reserve Officer Training Corps. In the program, college students train to become officers in the United State Military. The program has branches in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. When I received my commission in the US Army as a Second Lieutenant, I graduated from an ROTC program at Doane College in Crete in 1982.
Approximately 1,700 colleges and universities across the country offer ROTC programs. While scholarships aren’t a guarantee, but many cadets do receive significant two, three, or four-year scholarships. Over the years since I graduated, several colleges have discontinued their ROTC programs. Nebraska has seen this happen as well. Two years ago I learned the ROTC Program at Chadron State College was being done away with. I was very concerned to hear this. The program has produced several outstanding graduates that went on to become senior leaders in the Nebraska National Guard. My daughter Kalee and her husband Dalton were both commissioned from this program.
I began working with our outstanding Adjutant General, Major General Craig Strong. He shares my sincere belief that we need more commissioning sources for new military officers, not less. Like everywhere else in Western Nebraska, there are not a lot of people. The program at Chadron had suffered declining enrollment for some time. The full-time active duty soldiers assigned to this duty were hard to find, and too junior in rank to build an effective program.
Recently MG Strong informed me the ROTC program at Chadron State would be re-started. He has worked very hard with The US Army Cadet Recruiting Command, and has coordinated with other larger programs Chadron could be a “satellite” campus. He has made the staffing of the two full-time positions a high priority. An officer who can mentor young cadets will lead the program.
General Strong has demonstrated exactly why it is so important for the Governor to choose outstanding leaders to be our Adjutant General. I was proud to see him before my committee for his confirmation hearing. He is still early in his tenure, but he is demonstrating that he is a “soldiers general.” The leadership traits I am seeing in this officer makes it likely that he will be the best general officer I have ever worked with in my career as an Army officer and a politician because he cares about soldiers. The Governor’s decision to appoint him was a very wise choice.
Please contact my office with any comments, questions, or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.