Photo By Master Sgt. Brian Hamilton | Retired Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz speaks at a commissioning ceremony at Davidson College in...... read more read more
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DAVIDSON, N.C. - The list of inductees into the University of North Carolina-Charlotte’s ROTC Hall of Fame includes: a former mayor and entrepreneur, John Belk, the 54th U.S. Secretary of State and Rhodes scholar, Dean Rusk and a former journalist and CEO of a major publications company, James Batten.
Add former chief of the Army Reserve, retired Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, to that list.
Stultz, who served as the Army Reserve’s top commanding officer from May 2006 until June 2012, was added to that short but distinguished list during a commissioning ceremony Saturday at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, in which five graduates were commissioned into the U.S. Army.
At the ceremony, Stultz, the guest speaker and Davidson graduate, charged this new crop of officers to maintain the respect and admiration Soldiers currently enjoy in today’s society.
“There are a lot of similarities between 1974 and the Army we have today. We were coming out of a long war then and we are doing it today. We were facing cutbacks then and we face them today. But there are some differences as well.” Stultz said in his remarks.
“When I entered service in 1974, the military was not held in high esteem. Soldiers back then were told to take off their uniforms before they got to the airport. They said when you get back to American soil they’ll spit at you. Today, it’s not like that. The military is held in the highest regard. I urge you to continue to live up to that degree of respect. A lot of blood was shed for it. Don’t waste it.”
Among the many distinguished guests and service members, both former and current, present at the ceremony was Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser.
Purser now commands the very unit that Stultz first served with after leaving the active Army in 1979 to pursue a civilian career and joining the Army Reserve; the 108th Training Command (IET), formerly the 108th Division.
Purser, like many others, strives to emulate his service and considers him a mentor.
“As his deputy, I watched him deftly deal with contentious situations; I was amazed with his humility and patience,” said Purser. “There were plenty of issues that I might have fallen on the sword over. He taught me patience. He understood when to fall on the sword and when not to.”
“He was a master at building bridges and I don’t think there is a single person in the military that doesn’t respect Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz. I still seek his guidance today,” Purser added.
In addition to honoring him with the Hall of Fame induction, Lt. Col. Jared Sloan, UNC-Charlotte professor of military science, says having a speaker of Stultz’s stature at the commissioning ceremony adds an extra value to the students and graduates of his battalion.
“Because he [Stultz] is a graduate of this institution, he has an immediate connection to them. They can see that even in a small program like Davidson the opportunities for excellence are there if you work hard enough,” Sloan said.
“Because we have students in all three components; active, Reserve, and National Guard, by having a Reserve officer here to speak to them it allows these young lieutenants the opportunity to get a broad perspective of the unified force,” Sloan added.
The ceremony concluded with the customary ‘first salute,’ a time honored tradition in which a newly commissioned lieutenant surrenders a single, silver dollar to an enlisted service member in exchange for the rendering of a salute.
While the true origins of the exchange vary, depending on whom you ask, it is a custom that has been passed on through our military’s brief, but significant history, and one that leaves a lasting impression on participants and spectators alike.
“Attending something like this commissioning ceremony is very nostalgic. It makes you realize how special this institution is. The experiences and knowledge you leave here with and then you come back 41 years later, it just makes you feel old,” Stultz said with a laugh.
“There’s a lot of change, but there’s a whole lot of things that are the same; the quality of the faculty, the quality of the students, the smiles on their faces. Those things haven’t changed at all.”
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2015 20:24 |
| Story ID: | 163595 |
| Location: | DAVIDSON, NC, US |
| Hometown: | CHARLOTTE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | DAVIDSON, NC, US |
| Hometown: | ORLANDO, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 85 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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