Historic Plattsburgh ROTC Program to Close

PLATTSBURGH, NY, UNITED STATES

05.01.2015

Courtesy Story

108th Training Command- Initial Entry Training

By Maj. Joe Notch
104th Training Division (LT)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - After nearly a century of preparing young citizens to become military leaders, the historic Army ROTC program at Plattsburgh State University College is closing its doors for good at the end of the 2014-15 school year due to a nationwide ROTC restructuring.

Although Plattsburgh ROTC was never a large program, it offered degrees at a tremendous cost-savings to its Cadets and the Army – producing officers with similar degrees at tuition rates roughly one-third the cost of its full-partnership program, the University of Vermont (UVM). Cadets and Cadre warmly referred to their program as the “blue-collar alternative to UVM,” a slogan which also reflected the strong work ethic of its graduates, who in the last two years alone, all earned active duty commissions and either their first or second branch choices.

Despite its historic contributions to Army ROTC, the modern program did not come to Plattsburgh State University College until 2007, when interest from students demonstrated the potential for growing the Army’s wartime need for junior officers.

With the nearest ROTC campus just 20 miles away in Burlington, Vermont; the cities lie on opposing shores of the country’s sixth largest body of water, Lake Champlain. Fees and a 1.5 hour commute and ferry crossing were too impractical for prospective cadets to travel each day, so University of Vermont ROTC assigned Lt. Col. Douglas Goodfellow of the Army Reserve to run the Plattsburgh program as an Army ROTC contractor.

Starting the program with just 10 cadets, Goodfellow single-handedly ran all aspects of the program, from drill and ceremony, physical fitness training, MSI-IV classes, labs, administration and recruiting events.

Within two years, the program grew to over 40 cadets and gained enough attention to garner support from the Army Reserve’s 4/415th SROTC Battalion, 104th Training Division (LT) joined first by Maj. Chris Dobozy in 2009, Maj. Joe Notch in 2010 and Maj. Dan Gardner in 2012.

When initial ROTC restructuring caused Goodfellow’s reassignment to Clarkson University in 2013, the Plattsburgh ROTC program was kept alive by the tireless efforts of just the three remaining 4/415th Battalion officers, who juggled full-time coverage of the program with rigorous careers as federal agent, pilot and as an assistant U.S. Department of Justice Attorney.

Modern ROTC rooted in the “Plattsburgh Movement”

The blueprint for modern ROTC began in Plattsburgh in 1913 as an addition to Land Grant colleges. Gen. Leonard Wood, Army chief of staff and President Theodore Roosevelt’s former commanding officer during the Spanish-American War, established two experimental military training camps for students, inaugurating the “Plattsburgh Movement.” For the first time in history, a condensed course prepared civilian professionals and college students as competent reserve line officers after only a summer of training.

Men volunteered to attend the camps at their own expense, paying for their own uniforms, transportation and subsistence. The summer training program provided a greatly expanded junior officers' corps on the eve of WWI, but the regiments still had no official standing as part of the military. The National Defense Act of 1916 continued the student military training and summer camps, authorized an Officers' Reserve Corps and a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and commissioned graduates of these schools based on their performance.

The Plattsburgh program was a tremendous success, leading many universities to endorse on-campus military instruction as the best way to strengthen America’s military without the need for a standing army. By the end of 1917, over 17,000 men were trained at Plattsburgh, including three of President Theodore Roosevelt’s four sons. During WWI, 90% of all the Army’s line officers had trained at Plattsburgh or at similar facilities that cropped up in other locations. Under the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, similar training for Naval officers was established at Plattsburgh and on select U.S. battleships.

Early Distinguished Graduate, BG Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
One of the earliest Plattsburgh graduates was Theodore Roosevelt Jr., commissioned as a Major during World War I. He commanded the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was so concerned for his men's welfare that he purchased combat boots for the entire battalion with his own money. Gassed and wounded at Soissons in July 1918, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the war.

After the war, Roosevelt was a founding member of the American Legion in 1919. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Governor of Puerto Rico (1929–32), and Governor-General of the Philippines (1932–33).

In 1940, Roosevelt attended a military refresher course as an advanced student and was promoted to Colonel. He returned to active duty and commanded the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, the same unit he fought with in World War I. Promoted to Brigadier General in 1941, he led his regiment in combat in Algeria in 1942, before serving as second-in-command of the 1st Infantry Division in the North African Campaign in 1943. In February 1944, Roosevelt was assigned to England to help lead the Normandy invasion. On D-Day, he was the only General Officer to land by sea with the first wave of troops. At 56, he was the oldest man in the invasion, and the only man to serve with his son on D-Day at Normandy.

Roosevelt led the 4th Infantry Division's 8th Infantry Regiment and 70th Tank Battalion landings at Utah Beach. Informed that his landing craft drifted more than a mile south of the objective, Roosevelt modified his division's original plan on the beach, enabling the division to achieve its mission by attacking north behind the beach toward its original objective. Walking with a cane and carrying a pistol, he reconnoitered the objective, then returned to the beachhead to coordinate his battalion commanders’ attacks, saying "We’ll start the war from right here!" With artillery landing close by, each follow-on regiment was personally welcomed on the beach by a cool, calm, and collected Roosevelt, who inspired his men with humor and confidence, reciting poetry and telling anecdotes of his father to steady their nerves. Roosevelt pointed each successive regiment to its changed objective. He worked under fire as a self-appointed traffic cop, untangling traffic jams of trucks and tanks all struggling to get inland and off the beach.

Years later, General Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic action he had ever seen in combat; he replied, "Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach." BG Roosevelt died of a heart attack 36 days after leading the first wave of troops at Utah Beach, for which he earned the Medal of Honor.

Plattsburgh’s Long Military History

Plattsburgh’s contribution to our nation’s military history dates to the American Revolution and one of the first naval battles fought by the United States Navy - the Battle of Valcour. Under the command of General Benedict Arnold, the inferior American fleet fought the British Navy from the narrow, rocky body of water on Lake Champlain between Plattsburgh and Valcour Island on October 11, 1776. While the American fleet was largely destroyed, the battle successfully prevented the British from reaching the Upper Hudson River before winter, and enabled the American Revolutionaries to survive until spring.

Battle of Plattsburgh, September 11, 1814

The Battle of Plattsburgh in the subsequent War of 1812 was far more successful. A combined land and naval battle in the area of Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain effectively ended the final invasion of the northern states of the United States. The American victory occurred shortly before the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which denied British territorial claims and ended the war.

In the decades following the decisive British defeat, the United States remained wary of British Canada. The Army established a permanent garrison at Plattsburgh, along the strategically important Lake Champlain corridor, which for centuries had been a route for invasion. Permanent structures were built, with various infantry and artillery units stationed at Plattsburgh throughout the latter half of the 19th century.

The Underground Railroad, John Brown’s Raid, and Lincoln’s Avengers

Plattsburgh contributed to the American Civil War era as well, with forceful supporters of the American Anti-Slavery movement and several area towns serving as key stops of the Underground Railroad into Canada. Eventually, an African American farming community was established in the area, where John Brown, leader of the infamous 1859 Raid on Harper’s Ferry once lived and was later buried after his trial and execution. With war, the area provided several thousand men to the Union Army, with soldiers of the 16th NY Cavalry later gaining fame for capturing President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The soldiers came to be known as “Lincoln’s Avengers”.

Spanish American War

Beginning in the early 1890s, a sprawling expansion program greatly enlarged the Army Post at Plattsburgh. The 21st Infantry was transferred from Plattsburgh Barracks to Cuba in June 1898, to fight the Spanish military in the Spanish-American War. After the Cuban campaign, the troops returned to Plattsburgh in September 1898.

WWI to WWII

The 26th Infantry Regiment of the "Iron first" 1st Infantry Division was stationed at Plattsburgh Barracks during the period between World War I and II. The unit left Plattsburgh in 1942 to begin the long trek from the African sands to the vast fields of Normandy. For a short time during 1942 and 1943, the Barracks became a training site for combat engineers. Then in 1944, it was turned over to the Navy and became Camp MacDonough, an indoctrination school for Naval officers.

Plattsburgh remained a vibrant military training facility during the interwar years. Citizens' Military Training Camps (CMTC) were held each summer during the years from 1921 to 1940. The CMTC camps differed from National Guard and Reserves training in that the program allowed male citizens to obtain basic military training without an obligation to call-up for active duty. The CMTC were authorized by the National Defense Act of 1920 as a compromise that rejected universal military training. Prior to US entry into WWII, Plattsburgh hosted massive Army maneuver exercises, becoming home to the 36th Combat Engineer Regiment in June, 1941.

Strategic Air Force Base

Near the end of WWII, the Plattsburgh Army Camp was turned over to the Army Air Forces on Jan. 1, 1945. The Barracks were renamed the Plattsburgh Air Force Base in 1954 and subsequently used as a Strategic Air Command bomber base, Inter-Continental Missile Base, and Refuel Air Wing until its closure in 1995. At the time of its closure, aircraft from Plattsburgh had participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. In its long military history, many different units served valiantly at Plattsburgh using a great variety of weapons, from muskets and cannons to the sophisticated FB-111As, ICBMs, and KC-135s.

• Date Taken: 05.01.2015
• Date Posted: 05.07.2015 12:20
• Story ID: 162571
• Location: PLATTSBURGH, NY, US
• Hometown: PLATTSBURGH, NY, US