Morehouse College NROTC Commissioning

ATLANTA (NNS) -- Eight Morehouse College Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen were commissioned as Navy and Marine Corps officers at a commissioning ceremony held in Atlanta, May 18.

The six Navy-option and two Marine-option NROTC midshipmen were personally recognized by retired Navy Capt. Donnie Cochran, in front of an audience of more than two hundred people before entering military service.

Morehouse College is a historically black college. The NROTC unit was founded in 1987 and has approximately 45 Navy and Marine option midshipmen.

"The hard work could only be expressed through tears of joy amongst the newly commissioned officers; it was a very powerful moment," said Ensign Kelvin Davis, one of the newly-commissioned officers.

Ensign Donovan Boone's mother, Chanel Lenoir said watching her son become a commissioned officer was an extremely proud moment for her.

"I know the hard work my son has put into NROTC; having the unique opportunity to pin on his insignia was an extremely emotional time for me" said Lenior.

Although numerous NROTC midshipmen will receive commissions over the next few weeks, receiving the oath from Cochran is a rare opportunity. Cochran was the first African American team member of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team. He later went on to be the first African American commanding officer/flight leader of the team.

During his address, Cochran expressed words of encouragement to the newly-commissioned officers.
"Captain Cochran's message was inspiring and just what our newest officers needed to hear," said Capt. Mario Mifsud, Commanding Officer, NROTC Unit Atlanta Region.

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 news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/greatlakes/.