The director of the U.S. Army’s Center for Army Leadership will travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to preside over the St. Louis-area Army ROTC commissioning ceremony for graduates from Washington University, along with Saint Louis, Maryville, Lindenwood and Webster universities.
WHO: Col. Thomas Guthrie, the director of the Center for Army Leadership for the U.S. Army; Lt. Col. James Craig, commander of the Gateway Battalion, St. Louis’ Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), based at Washington University in St. Louis; and a class of 17 cadets being commissioned. With three students already commissioned and two more scheduled to commission in the summer, this year’s commissioning class is the largest in recent St. Louis-area ROTC history.
WHAT: Col. Guthrie will preside over the 95th annual Army ROTC commissioning ceremony, during which 17 cadets will become commissioned officers in the U.S. Army, Army Reserve or Army National Guard. Col. Guthrie also will deliver a talk on leadership and the future of the Army and attend a reception for the new lieutenants and their families following the ceremony. Lt. Col. Craig, who is the commander for ROTC training in St. Louis and the professor of military science for most of the four-year colleges in the St. Louis area, will present the commissions to the new second lieutenants and administer the oath of office.
WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall (on Brookings Quadrangle)
Washington University in St. Louis, Danforth Campus
WHEN: 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2013 (ceremony lasts approximately one hour)
Background on ROTC program
St. Louis’ ROTC program, hosted at Washington University, enrolls students from nine colleges or universities in the St. Louis area. There are 107 active cadets in the program. For more information on the program, or to speak with Lt. Col. James Craig, call (314) 925-5537.