MAJ Jeff Maxcy
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MAJ Jeff Maxcy
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Greetings Jayhawk Chapter!
The Army ROTC unit at Kansas University enjoyed a long
and productive holiday break. However, with the new semester, the cadets eagerly anticipated new training challenges and have not been disappointed.
On the first day of the semester, the cadets participated in a Warrior Squad Competition which encouraged teamwork in a fun environment. The cadets also tested their physical fitness after the long holiday by completing a diagnostic APFT. For cadets attending LDAC this summer, a major challenge was passing the combat water survival training a few weeks ago. During labs, cadets have been working on troop leading procedures and improving their land navigation skills by working on map reading. The cadets also experienced their first road march of the semester which, despite a few blisters, was a popular event.
After training hard, the cadets enjoyed a break by attending the Dining-In which was held at the Kansas Union on 25
February 2005. COL Lawyn Edwards, Director of CGSS, spoke and provided many words of wisdom for the cadets. The cadets also poked fun at each other and the cadre during class skits. The Jayhawk Battalion is looking forward to the rest of the semester. We have many challenging activities including the FTX in April and the Ranger Buddy Team Competition on 23 April 2005. We invite each of you to attend the Buddy Team Competition to see the outstanding dedication and skills of over 200 cadets from around the country. Check out our new website at www.ku.edu/~kurotc/ for our upcoming events.
JAYHAWKS LEAD THE WAY!
MAJ(P) Jeff Maxcy
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CAPT Rich High, USN
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Update from the Navy:
Greetings to all of the MOAA Jayhawk Chapter membership. Time continues to "fly" by from the desk that I write this Navy update. Can't believe we are nearing the mid-point of the spring semester 2005. Our Midshipmen continue to stay busy and conduct themselves in an exemplary manner. Just recently, 19 of our Mids traveled to New Orleans to compete at the Tulane national ROTC competition. There were over sixty universities in the competition including the Naval Academy as well as the Air Force Academy, VMI, and Texas A&M (well known for the military type corps programs). The overall competition is broken down into five different categories. Each category is a competition in itself and adds to the competing teams overall score and final standing. To win or place highly in a category is in itself very prestigious. We were very proud when we got the word that University of Kansas NROTC Unit had placed in the top ten in three of the categories with the highest being a second in "Platoon Drill Inspection" category. The Midshipmen received a very nice trophy and their success made the entire trip and competition well worth the effort and expense. Overall we finished 18th out of the 63 schools competing.
As we look forward to the graduation of this year's seniors, the Navy ROTC staff is in charge of the commissioning ceremony for this cycle. (KU commencement 22 May; commissioning for ROTC 23 May) We are attempting to make this a truly meaningful and memorable event. With this in mind, our staff is working very hard to confirm a guest speaker that is worthy of making the ceremony truly special. We are hoping to attract the majority of the graduating seniors’ families as well as a number of the state and local community leadership and notables.
I will be looking forward to the next MOAA meeting in March and the opportunity to discuss upcoming Navy ROTC events. Please feel free to call on me if you have any questions or suggestions on this extremely competitive program.
Until we meet again,
R. D. High
CAPTAIN, USN
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Col Mike Lee, USAF
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Death, taxes and an article for the Jayhawk MOAA newsletter, three things I must face, but hopefully not in that order!! We've only been back from the Winter (Christmas) break a month, but as usual things are moving. We had the normal post-break decrease in the size of our detachment, down from our Fall high of about (it's hard to pin down the exact "peak" in the Fall) 84 cadets to 79 currently enrolled. The Dean takes a cut, a few prove incompatible with the military lifestyle, and occasionally medical issues disqualify others. Our numbers include three graduate students enrolled this year, one will commission in May with a PhD in Chemistry to become . . . surprise, an Air Force Chemist. We also received all of the commissioning cadet career fields, and we have four navigators, three pilots, one Comm/Info, one Space and Missiles (an acquisitions officer who will take one operational tour in missiles first), two Intelligence (one is a physicist who will take one tour in operations first), one Security Forces, one Electrical Engineer, one Aeronautical Engineer, one Civil Engineer, one Nurse, one Services officer, and one partridge in a pear tree.
Right now our slate of community service is filling up. We just completed a Valentines for Vets project at the VA hospital in Lansing, we support a Red Cross Blood Drive late in February, a Muscular Dystrophy "Lock-up" in early March, Meals on Wheels and Walk for Hunger in March, and a major Red Cross Fund drive in April. Weekly work includes Red Cross activities and support at a local assisted living
center. These cadets keep a busy schedule, and I hope some of it includes study time!! One of our larger events for April will be supporting the dedication of the Korean War Memorial here at KU on 16 April. Service to nation and community is an important "unwritten" part of the curriculum. As a side note, all Korean War vets should contact Ms Gina Willem in the KU Vice Chancellors Office at 864-3131 to make sure they receive a personal invitation to this event.
Upcoming military activities include Self Defense and Unarmed Combat taught by training officers from Ft Riley, combat survival training and Field Training Exercise conducted by Combat survival Instructors from Whiteman AFB, incentive flights at McConnell AFB and Forbes Field, and a 3-4 Day trip to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. We had one Cadet married in December, and three more planned for June . . . with all the activities I don't know how they find the time to get wrapped up in such things . . . or has it just been so long I've forgotten some of the finer points of prepping for a military career.
We always appreciate our association with you, the Jayhawk Chapter of the MOAA. Thanks for maintaining the spirit!
Mike Lee
Colonel, USAF
