Remote classes from frontlines of the pandemic: Celebrating URI's ROTC graduates

On May 18, the University of Rhode Island conducted a commissioning ceremony for its newest group of ROTC cadets. One of those newly minted officers is 2nd Lt. Chantel Rosario de Los Santos.

She knew she wanted to go to college. By the time she was a junior at Classical High School in Providence, she also knew she would have to find a way to pay for it. A conversation with an Army National Guard recruiter showed her a path forward. It was called the Simultaneous Membership Program, or SMP. It provided a tuition waiver at a state college for any student who joined the Guard or Reserve and also participated in ROTC.

After training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, she began her studies at the University of Rhode Island in January 2019. She still drilled one weekend per month and two weeks during the summer with her Guard unit, but she was on her way to a college degree and a commission in the Army. The payback was a six-year military commitment.

“I’m fine with that, and am looking forward to it,” Rosario de Los Santos told me. “I’m getting an education, building career benefits, and I see how I can take care of my family.”

Lt. Col. Tad Granai, professor of military science at URI, speaks very highly of the SMP program.

“As a state school, SMP is extremely valuable for URI,” he said. “It’s a tuition-waiver program that allows graduating cadets to serve anywhere in the Army. There’s also the Minuteman Program, which provides ROTC scholarships, but that requires graduates to serve specifically in the R.I. Guard.”

In early 2020, Rosario de Los Santos was called to full-time active duty during Rhode Island’s COVID-19 emergency. That meant 12-hour overnight shifts as an MP working with the state police on highway patrol – stopping cars entering the state to help enforce quarantine restrictions. The schedule was grueling.

“It was surreal," she said. "We had masks on, with loaded weapons, tasers and pepper spray on our belts. People were a little freaked out. Then I’d have to go home and try to get some sleep while everyone else was getting up to go to work or school.”        

Fortunately, the change to online classes made it possible for Rosario de Los Santos to keep up with her studies while on active duty. After switching to a day shift, she would take classes in her vehicle while working security outside testing centers. She was happy to return to campus and to a sense of normalcy in the fall of 2021. She declared her major in kinesiology and entered URI’s Accelerated Bachelor's to Master’s Program.

She is on track to attain her master's degree in kinesiology in May 2024. She is transferring to the Massachusetts National Guard in order to fill an open billet in the Quartermaster Corps, her chosen branch.

Proudly Serving Our Nation:May culminates with Memorial Day commemoration and graduations

Cadets commissioned on May 18

Here is a list of her classmates, along with their college affiliation: 2nd Lieutenants Jack Lambros (Roger Williams); Jack Eustis (URI); Joseph Morrissey (Salve Regina); Patrick Lane (Roger Williams); Megan Brigham (URI); Katie Bzowyckyj (URI); James Koester (Salve Regina); Christian Ditusa (URI); David Falano (URI); and Madison Christiana (URI).

Three more cadets will be commissioned as part of this class after graduating from Cadet Summer Training this year. They are soon-to-be 2nd Lieutenants Isabella Rosado (Roger Williams); Jake Bernard (Roger Williams) and Delaney Fisher (URI).

Lane is also a Distinguished Military Graduate, ranking in the top 10% of cadets nationwide. Brigham earned the Top Notch Soldier award, given to a graduating cadet who has demonstrated military excellence.

The battalion held a ceremony on April 20, giving out some 40 awards. In addition to Lane and Brigham, recipients included Jack Eustis, Joseph Morrissey, William Schanck Jr., Katherine Bzowyckyj, Isabelle Rosado, Christian DiTusa and Madison Christiana.

History of military training at URI

Military instruction at URI dates back to 1894, two years after the school's formal establishment and six years after it began agricultural classes at a local farm. After the program's iffy existence for a few years, the school finally received enough money from the legislature to expand to a four-year curriculum in 1892.

Military training at civilian colleges began with the passage of the Morrill Act (more familiarly known as the Land Grant Act) in 1862.

During the Civil War, the Union Army was caught flat-footed when many of its best-trained and most capable officers elected to serve the Confederacy. That should have been no surprise; the Southern states had always provided much of the professional officer corps.

Scrambling, Congress voted to provide free land for civilian colleges that agreed to offer compulsory military instruction. URI is one of the beneficiaries of that program, although it took a few decades to get there.

Military training begins in 1894

In September 1894, 44-year-old Capt. William W. Wotherspoon arrived to become the school’s first professor of military science. He was commissioned in 1873 and had fought in the Indian Wars.

Military drill and tactics immediately became required of all male students.

World War I brings about changes

In 1916, the "land-grant" system of military training was absorbed into several other programs, including the present-day ROTC. The first university to establish an ROTC program was Harvard; Brown followed shortly thereafter.

In 1918, all ROTC units were suspended in favor of a short-lived program called the Student Army Training Corps, under which draftees were allowed to defer active duty as long as they were enrolled in college.

Rhode Island State College also hosted a SATC program. In 1920, it was redesignated as an ROTC unit.

Since then, URI can credibly claim to be the most consistent and productive ROTC program in the state.

For more information about the Simultaneous Membership Program, please visit nationalguard.com/simultaneous-membership-program.

For details about Minuteman Scholarships, go to nationalguard.com/tools/guard-scholarships.

For information specific to Rhode Island, reach out to the recruiting superintendent, Senior Master Sgt. Susy Reyes, at (401) 639-2568, or email virgen.reyes@us.af.mil

Announcement

On Flag Day, Wednesday, June 14, at 2 p.m. in the Bell Room on the first floor of the State House, Rep. Camille F.J. Vella-Wilkinson, D-Warwick, will host an event beginning a series of briefings to inform veterans of their benefits under the federal Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act, which greatly expands eligibility for Veterans Administration health care to veterans who have health problems due to exposure to toxins ranging from burn pits to Agent Orange. All veterans and family members are welcome.

To report the outcome of a previous activity, or to add a future event to our calendar, please email the details (including a contact name and phone number/email address) to veteranscolumn@providencejournal.com.