Military Branching Dinner Honors Senior ROTC Cadets
On February 22, Captain DeGreeff accompanied Maranatha Baptist University’s senior ROTC cadets to a military branching dinner. This event honored the cadets for their four-year ROTC career and recognized them for the specific military branch into which they will be commissioned.
L-R: Cadet Tanglao, Cadet Kazarovich, Cadet Wetzel, Cadet Kile, Cadet Lewis
The Dinner
The dinner took place at the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery in downtown Madison. As the evening began, cadets and military officers from the universities of Maranatha Baptist, Madison and Whitewater mingled with one another.
Dinner provided the guests with the opportunity to further interact and connect with the people seated around them. After the meal, guest speaker Colonel Tim Weathersbee spoke about his experience as an Army officer and provided prudent guidance to the future leaders gathered in the room.
The evening concluded with a meaningful military practice of honor and pride. Military officers lined each side of the center aisle. They extended their swords forward, creating an arch known as the Saber Arch. The seniors walked under the arch and reflected on their hard work and dedication.
Cadet Tanglao said, “This branching dinner marked all the hard work up to this point coming to fruition. It was a time of celebration and thankfulness to all those who have supported me.”
Every exercise, lesson and PT session over the past four years in ROTC brought them to this moment.
“The branching dinner was a great time to reconnect with the cadets that entered the program with you four years ago and have been at every combined training event,” said Cadet Kile. “It was also a proud moment to see how far you had come from freshman year.”
The Military Branching
Before the dinner, all of the senior cadets had requested and then been designated a specific branch in the Army. At the dinner, they were recognized for that branch. The seniors will be commissioned in May, and each of them will go to a specific military fort to receive training in his assigned branch. The duration of their training depends on which branch they chose and varies from two months to two years.
This year’s senior cadets, with their branches and training locations, include the following:
Elijah Kazarovich: Military Intelligence
Timothy Kile: Field Artillery – Fort Sill, OK
Elisha Lewis: Infantry – Fort Benning, GA
Patrick Tanglao: Quartermaster – Fort Lee, VA
Matthew Wetzel: Branch Engineering – Fort Leonard Wood, MO
For more information on ROTC at Maranatha Baptist University email admissions@mbu.edu.