“As leaders, your number one job is to inspire your soldiers to be better than they thought they could be,” Major General Deborah L. Kotulich, director of the Army Recruiting and Retention Task Force, told the ROTC cadets in an address. “You’ll be responsible for building cohesive teams that are highly trained, disciplined, and fit, and ready to fight and win.”

“You’ll start,” she said, “by building and promoting climates of dignity and respect, where every soldier in your formation feels a sense of belonging and wants to be a member of your team.”

Fordham’s NROTC and ROTC programs held back-to-back commissioning ceremonies at the University Church on the Rose Hill campus. The 20 cadets—five of them NROTC cadets—included students from Fordham as well as other New York-area universities.

Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham, addressed the cadets at each ceremony, and—at the ROTC ceremony—noted the parallels between the military and the Jesuit order, with which Fordham is affiliated.

“Both see talent everywhere, invest in that talent by giving opportunity, and bring together a fierce community bonded by service and by honor,” she said. “You embody our Jesuit mission in your service—to be men and women for others; to be leaders grounded in knowledge, critical thinking, and respect; to be full of courage and willing to sacrifice even your life for another. We are so proud of you.”

Commencement Season

The ceremonies took place the day before Fordham’s University-wide commencement ceremony, its fourth since the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education of first-year students who were this year’s graduating seniors.

“Dealing with and powering through COVID has been a tremendous training experience in resilience for each of you, whether you look at it that way or not,” Kotulich said at the ROTC ceremony.

She called on the cadets to set an inspiring example that helps the Army cope with a difficult landscape for recruitment. She also spoke of changes in the Army like greater supports for military families and more opportunities for women—noting that she was barred from Ranger School and the infantry early in her career because of her gender.

“I’m proud of our leaders recognizing that those exclusions didn’t make sense,” she said.

The ROTC ceremony followed the NROTC ceremony, during which John P. Coffey, general counsel of the Department of the Navy, told cadets of the “glorious history that precedes you” as the newest officers in the Navy and Marine Corps.

“Never forget that you have an obligation, at all times, to act with utmost integrity,” he said, advising them to “choose the hard road” when tempted to turn away from a difficult situation and take the easy way out. Also, he said, “know there will be times when you fall down.”

“Pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off, learn from experience,” he said. “No one’s perfect. We don’t live in a zero-defect military. The most important thing is how you learn from it.”

“To our soon-to-be officers, congratulations,” said Jack Keane, GABELLI ’66, a national security and foreign policy expert and Fordham trustee fellow who was the ceremony’s featured guest speaker. Later, he added: “The oath which you are about to take is a sacred trust between you and the American people.”

“We who take it, embrace it, and take it very seriously. I expect you to do the same,” said Keane, who administered the oath of office to the cadets. In his address, he outlined several security threats that he said will continue to challenge the military worldwide, ranging from a resurgent Russia to a belligerent and nuclear-armed North Korea.

Twenty-two cadets became second lieutenants at the May 17 commissioning ceremony, held in the University Church on the Rose Hill campus the day before Fordham’s 174th Annual Commencement. Another cadet was commissioned on May 20. Nine members of Fordham’s Class of 2019 were among the cadets, who attended a number of New York-area universities.

In his address, Keane told the cadets they are entering not just a job or a career but something “more akin to a vocation” because of the sacrifices and discipline it demands.

Keane noted that he began his own military career as a cadet in the Fordham ROTC program. Following his commissioning, he was assigned to an infantry paratroop unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

It was intimidating. “They were our very best. I did not know if I could measure up,” he said. “The noncommissioned officers, though subordinate to me, were also my teachers. Outside of our beloved Jesuits, they were the most professional and different group of men I ever encountered—smart, confident, totally dedicated, and completely selfless.”

They cared little about his background, he said. “What they wanted to know was, who was I? Was I willing to work hard to learn the necessary skills, did I really care, would my troops truly come first? In other words, they were … more interested in my heart than anything else.”

“I tried awfully hard to earn their respect and trust,” he said. “I eventually became one of them. I lived a life of shared experiences that enriched my life and my family’s beyond expectations.”

A career infantry paratrooper, Keane was a platoon leader and company commander in Vietnam, where he was decorated for valor. He commanded the 101st Airborne Division and the 18th Airborne Corps, the Army’s largest war-fighting organization, and served as the Army’s acting chief of staff and vice chief of staff before retiring from the Army in 2003. He spoke about the Russia threat before the Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 1, one of many times he has provided expert testimony before Congress.

Keane said the U.S. faces security challenges “on a scale we have not seen since the end of World War II and the rise of the Soviet Union.” They include China’s efforts to dominate the Indo-Pacific region and supplant the U.S. as the world’s leader; radical Islam; and tensions being inflamed by Iran in the Middle East, in addition to the challenges posed by Russia and North Korea, he said.

In light of these threats, along with past defense budget cuts and the erosion of America’s military dominance, the Trump administration’s defense buildup “is even more critical than the Reagan defense buildup of the 1980s,” he said. “The United States military is a much-needed deterrent to these dangers. Your job will be to prepare yourself, your unit and your troops, to be ready.”

“I am proud you want to serve your country,” he said. “We do not take your commitment lightly.”

Protecting America’s Ideals

Speaking before Keane took the podium, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, reflected on the ideals in the country’s founding documents, calling them “luminously beautiful” but also “inherently fragile.”

“They must be protected, defended, and nurtured in every generation,” he told the soon-to-be-commissioned cadets. “They have called out to you and they have awakened in you the same bold generosity that has marked the lives of our greatest heroes.”

“I admire your courage. I am grateful for your generosity,” Father McShane said. “I am challenged—as I always am when I am in the presence of heroes—by your selfless love of our nation.”

During the ceremony, Father McShane presented Lt. Col. Samuel Linn, professor of military science at Fordham, with a certificate praising him for his “transformative leadership” of the ROTC program over the past three years. Linn is departing for Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to command an artillery battalion.

Two cadets were presented with awards honoring distinguished military graduates: Declan Wollard, GABELLI ’19, received the President’s Sabre, and Chris Bolton of Columbia University earned the General Jack Keane Award.

Also on May 17, two Fordham students earned commissions in the Navy ROTC program based at SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx, and the University held an inaugural Victory Bell ceremony at the Rose Hill campus to honor the veterans among the Class of 2019.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, presented remarks to the new officers, their families, friends, and members of the NROTC unit. Msgr. Joseph G. Quinn, vice president for University mission and ministry, gave the invocation, following an introduction by Capt. Matthew E. Loughlin, USN, commanding officer of the State University of New York Maritime College NROTC Unit.

Capt. Loughlin administered the oath of office to Ensign Chelsey Caitlin Sellers, FCRH ’12, who graduated with degrees in general science and theology. A native of San Bernardino, Calif., Sellers was selected for surface warfare officer duty and will report to the USS STOUT (DDG 55) in Norfolk, Va.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Miller, USN (Ret.), administered the oath of office to Ensign Isabel Ramona Gomez, FCRH ’12. Gomez, who graduated with a degree in biology, will report to the USS STETHEM (DDG 63) in Yokosuka, Japan, as a surface warfare officer.

Lt. Cmdr. John Cieslewicz, USN (Ret.), administered the oath of office to U.S. Marine Lt. Tyler Cieslewicz, GSB ’12, who graduated with a B.S. in entrepreneurship and a minor in psychology. Cieslewicz will report to The Basic School in Quantico, Va.

All three students were members of the NROTC unit headquartered at the SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx. The unit, of which Fordham students have been a part since 1985, is one of the largest NROTC units in the country and commissions Navy, Marine, and Strategic Sealift Officers. Established in 1973, the unit also includes students from Molloy College and Columbia University.

Ensign Chelsey Caitlin Sellers and
Captain Matthew Loughlin

Ensign Isabel Ramona Gomez and
Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Miller

Lieutenant Tyler Cieslewicz and
Lieutenant Commander John Cieslewicz
Photos contributed by Jane Bartnett

— Joanna Klimaski

Two Fordham Class of 2010 graduates and members of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) were sworn in as Ensigns in the United States Navy, and another was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during a commissioning ceremony held on the Rose Hill campus on May 21.

Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) alumni Matthew Sanders and Devin White were commissioned as Ensigns into the United States Navy. Sanders, who received his degree in biology, was selected for duty as a Surface Warfare Officer, Nuclear Option. White, who received degrees in history and classical civilization, received the Distinguished Midshipman Graduate award for his work as a Battalion Platoon Commander and his numerous other contributions to the Battalion over the years in the NROTC Unit.

Allan R. Boehm, who received his degree in political science from FCRH, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the United States Marine Corps. He will report to the Basic School (TBS) in Quantico, VA.

The ceremony was conducted at the William D. Walsh Family Library. Rear Admiral Christopher J. Paul, Deputy Commander Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, was the guest speaker at the event.

Sixteen newly commissioned officers from SUNY Maritime attended the event. Friends and family were able to participate in the joyous occasion as they pinned on the new officers’ rank insignia.

(Photo courtesy of SUNY Maritime)

-Gina Vergel