Marquette University NROTC Midshipmen Commissioned

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. (NNS) -- Twenty three Marquette University Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen and Marines received their commission as ensigns and second lieutenants in the United States Navy and Marine Corps, May 18.

The sixteen Navy-option and seven Marine-option NROTC students received their commission from several unit staff members, including Capt. Joseph Bauknecht, commanding officer of Marquette University NROTC unit, as well as various family members and friends.

The ceremony was on the steps of the Joan of Arc chapel on the Marquette campus and was attended by more than one hundred family members and friends came to see their son or daughter commission.

Later that day, a joint service commissioning ceremony was held involving the midshipmen and cadets of the three ROTC branches on campus; Army, Navy and Air Force. During the joint ceremony, the newly commissioned officers were recognized by the guest of honor, Vice Adm. Gerald R. Beaman, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet. Vice Admiral Beaman is a graduate of Marquette University, class of 1974.

"I graduated from [Marquette] 39 years ago in 1974," said Beaman. "The buildings have changed; you have so many new buildings mixed in with the old from when I was here. The buildings change, and the university changes, but the steely eyed warriors that commission here are the same kind of people that I graduated with. You never change and I am honored to be able to come back and commission a new class from my alma mater."

"It's so surreal," said Ensign Richard Vetter. "It hasn't fully set in that school is over and I'm an officer now. I can't tell if it hasn't fully set in because I can't believe it, or because it has been slowly setting in over the past four years and now it's actually here"

Commissioning is a major life experience for the new officers, but the ceremony can be just as memorable for the friends and family.

"This all began for us 13 years ago when Rick joined the Sea Cadets," said Mrs. Julie Vetter, mother of Ensign Vetter "He worked to the point of eventually leading his own group of cadets while he was in college. He has worked so hard and grown so much and we are very proud of him."

After the ceremony, Bauknecht commented on the newly commissioned officers saying "they work so hard and I'm so proud of them for everything they have done."

Commissioning may be the final step of their NROTC career, but it is only the first step of the career of these new Navy and Marine Corps officers. The future is ahead and it is time for these newly commissioned officers to join the ranks of those who have gone before them.

The NROTC program, overseen by Rear Adm. Dee L. Mewbourne, commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC) at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, loyalty and Navy core values in order to commission college graduates as Naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the Naval service and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

Mewbourne and NSTC oversee 98 percent of initial officer and enlisted accessions training for the Navy. This includes the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at more than 160 colleges and universities, Officer Training Command (OTC) on Naval Station Newport, R.I., Recruit Training Command (RTC), the Navy's only boot camp, at Great Lakes, Ill., and Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) citizenship development programs at more than 600 high schools worldwide.

For more information about NROTC, visit https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/. For more information about NSTC, visit http://www1.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.>
For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/greatlakes/.