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Saipan native commissioned as Army officer
LEXINGTON, MO—In an evening ceremony on the campus of Wentworth Military College, 15 cadets received their commissions as Army officers on May 16, 2014. A separate commissioning ceremony was conducted for one Missouri Valley College ROTC cadet on May 10, 2014.
Among the 16 cadets is Saipan-born Edward Dela Cruz Jr., Infantry, who was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
These newly appointed second lieutenants have spent the last two to four years in the traditional four-year Advanced ROTC Program and the Early Commissioning Program (ECP; an officer-producing program exclusive to Wentworth Military College and four other military junior colleges across the United States). Upon commissioning, the ECP-generated officers will serve two years in the Army National Guard or Army Reserves while they complete their bachelor’s degree at a college or university of their choice. The new second lieutenant that graduated from Missouri Valley College will begin his career on active duty as an aviation officer following his completion of the Basic Officer Leader Course at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.
Many of the ECP-generated second lieutenants will serve as platoon leaders or play key roles in a battalion staff while they complete their undergraduate degrees after which they may elect to serve on active duty.
Aside from Dela Cruz J, the other newly commissioned second lieutenants are: 2Lt. Kyle Christiansen, Quartermaster, Ripon, California; 2Lt. Ricardo Gonzales, Ordnance, Pago Pago, American Samoa; 2Lt. Austin Hale, Transportation, Mission, Kansas; 2Lt. David Hernandez, Engineer, Hudson, Wisconsin; 2Lt. Blaise Hooper, Quartermaster, Olathe, Kansas; 2Lt. Joshua Julien, Quartermaster, McDonald, Georgia; 2Lt. Samuel Kolkow, Engineer, Huntsville, Utah; 2Lt. Joshua Lundy, Singal Corps, Norwalk, Iowa; 2Lt. Emmanuel Nyarko, Signal Corps, of Newark, New Jersey; 2Lt. Mickey Shelton, Military Police, Rutledge, Tennessee; 2Lt. Eugene Stayt, Ordnance, Dongucheon, South Korea; 2Lt. Ryan Todd, Infantry, Roseburg, Oregon; 2Lt. Damien Watkins, Aviation, Camp Verde, Arizona; 2Lt. David Williams, Field Artillery, Chicago, Illinois; and 2Lt. Taylor Wolf, Ordnance, Big Bend, Wisconsin.
Wentworth Military College recently commissioned 16 cadets as Army officers. Among them is Saipan-born Edward Dela Cruz Jr., who was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
