Just one day before graduating with master’s degrees from Florida Tech, three cadets from the university’s Panther Battalion Army ROTC program were commissioned as second lieutenants in the spring commissioning ceremony May 10. The new officers are Daniel Ochoa Perez, Juyoul Lee and Nicholas King.
“This is the end of really one remarkable journey for these three impressive commissioners and the start of the new one; a proud mission that will make our Army and our country that much stronger,” Florida Tech President John Nicklow said in his remarks.
King earned an M.S. in Global Strategic Communication. He was commissioned as an active-duty officer into the chemical corps, where he will be until he transitions to military intelligence. His first duty station will be Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Lee earned an M.S. in Computer Information Systems. He was commissioned as an active-duty officer in the cyber branch. His duty station will be Fort Eisenhower outside of Augusta, Georgia.
Ochoa earned an M.S. in Human Resources Management. He was commissioned active duty into the Adjutant General’s branch and will attend the basic officer course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He will be stationed at Camp Humphreys in the Republic of Korea.
Guest speaker Col. James Jenkins III also addressed the cadets following remarks from Nicklow and professor of military science LTC Robert Stillings. Jenkins emphasized the importance of nonpartisan leadership. He said that the new lieutenants’ priority is to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution, above all else.
“You’re not going to swear allegiance to a person or an institution or an entity. You’re going to swear to the Constitution,” Jenkins said. “You have a right to voice it [your opinion]. Just don’t voice it in a way that impacts the leader that people expect you to be: the nonpartisan leader who’s just supporting the Constitution for what it’s about.”
He also reminded the new lieutenants that mistakes will happen as they learn the job. As they advance, however, he warned that supervisors will become less forgiving of rookie mistakes, so they should take the opportunity to learn from them early on.
“You’re going to make some mistakes and it’s okay. Make as many as you can while you can,” Jenkins said. “Just know that you’re going to learn from those mistakes, and you’ll get better and better.”
