AFROTC cadets to be commissioned at Kirtland

  • Published
  • By Ryan Stark
  • Nucleus writer
Members of the University of New Mexico Air Force ROTC will receive lieutenant's bars and be commissioned at Kirtland on Saturday.

The afternoon ceremony is for nine cadets from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 510. It will be at the New Mexico Air National Guard hangar.

The cadets received degrees from UNM earlier this month. Saturday's commissioning  ceremony will be the culmination of years of work in ROTC and the beginning of their careers as active-duty Airmen, said Capt. Samantha Bolin, the detachment's active-duty operations flight officer.

"We're just beaming with pride right now," she said. "We're proud of them and the fact that this program has helped to create the next, best group of leaders for our nation's Air Force."

Cadet Capt. Steven Lewis, a flight commander in the AFROTC program who is among the new officers, said he is looking forward to the next chapter in his life.

"It hasn't really hit me yet," he said. "The chance to help the Air Force and continue to
grow as a leader is something that I'm really excited about."

The four years of AFROTC at UNM were difficult at times, but it was worth the effort, he said.

"There were struggles, for sure, and we all had to face different leadership challenges," he said. "For me, looking back, it was great to have the chance to grow and teach underclassmen was the biggest part of it. And giving back to the university and the program was a great reward."

Lewis graduated with a degree in communications and will begin his Air Force career as an airfield operations officer at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony will be Brig. Gen. Paul H. Guemmer,  commander of the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen  Development. The center oversees college AFROTC programs and is located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

Guemmer is a graduate of UNM and began his Air Force career as a member of the AFROTC detachment there. He and nine other former UNM AFROTC cadets have gone on to become general officers.

"They will be carrying on General Guemmer's legacy," Bolin said of the cadets.

Saturday's ceremony is invitation-only, intended for the family and close friends of the new officers. Bolin said UNM Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Chaouki Abdallah will also be on-hand Saturday to speak.

For more about UNM's AFROTC detachment, go to www.unm.edu/~rotcweb.