"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade," reads the poster that hangs in the Dartmouth ROTC office.
With these words in the back of their minds, Jason Hartwig '06, Brad Wolcott '06 and Jonathan Vaccaro '06 will each accept commissions into the United States Army as Second Lieutenants on June 10 at Robinson Hall.
They are ranked among the top five percent of 4,500 Cadets on the National Order of Merit List, a ranking based on performance in ROTC, grades, physical fitness, extracurricular activities and at the Warrior Forge training exercises held at Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Warrior Forge is a leadership camp that trains cadets in tactical maneuvers while assessing their leadership skills.
All three cadets were among the top five in their 45-men platoons during these exercises. Due to their exemplary work, each received their first choice branch assignments for the Army. Hartwig and Wolcott will join the Armor Division and Vaccaro will join Military Intelligence.
"When we get to the Army next year, Jason and I will each command a unit of 16 men and four tanks -- $20 million worth of equipment," Wolcott said. "There's no other place in the world where you can have that responsibility at age 22. In that respect, it is an opportunity of a lifetime."
Wolcott and Vaccaro attended airborne school to become paratroopers during their time at Dartmouth.
They will go through at least another year of additional leadership and tactical training before being placed in units and sent into combat.
Last month, Hartwig attended the George C. Marshall Seminar, held at Virginia Military Institute, which is attended by all the top cadets in the country.
This is a unique ROTC class because they are the first who joined as freshmen with the knowledge that the United States was involved in military operations in Iraq. At least two other Dartmouth graduates, James Ermarth '04 and Melissa Hammerle '03 are currently serving in Iraq.
After training, Hartwig will be sent to Ft. Hood, Texas where he will become a cavalry officer and Wolcott will join the 1st Cavalry Squadron, which is part of the 1st Armor Division and currently stationed in Germany. Vaccaro has not yet received his official orders.
Their Dartmouth experience has not just been about excelling in ROTC, but in academics as well. Wolcott is a classic studies major, Hartwig is history major and Vaccaro double majored in government and math and social science. All three wrote honors theses and will graduate with honors.
The cadets say that they are humbled by the tasks that lie ahead of them, but are looking forward to making a difference wherever they can.
They praised the heads of the Dartmouth ROTC program, Majors Eric Carver and Anthony Lowry, for their steady encouragement and leadership throughout their time here. Carver and Lowry train ROTC cadets in small unit tactics, land navigation, marksmanship, leadership, intrapersonal skills and the physical fitness necessary for Warrior Forge and their Army careers.
"I think they should be identified and given praise for what they're doing because there aren't too many students on this campus that would or could do what they have done," Carver said. "When they signed on the dotted line, they fully knew what they were getting themselves into and they remained focused in the program and they are really excited about becoming Army officers."
