Friday, April 15, 2005
Soldier of the Month
We, at wthomassmithjr.com, are proud to present our first Soldier of the Month.
We’ve chosen the month of April 2005 for our first pick because it was exactly 230-years-ago this very month that the first soldier of the first free-American military force fired the first shot against an armed enemy.
For more about that event, see here.
Here’s how Soldier of the Month will work: Each month, one active, newly-recruited, retired, or former member of the American armed forces will be selected and featured (picture and comments) here at wthomassmithjr.com. They are not always going to be generals, admirals, or recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Some may be famous. Others ordinary (If you can believe any soldier, sailor, airmen, Marine, Coast Guardsman, cadet, or midshipman is ordinary). All deserve everything we can give them and more because they wear the uniform of the United States... and they do so for us... in dangerous times.
Our first entry, and the selection for April 2005, is Cadet Justin Self.
Cadet William Justin Self (click name for photograph) is a rising junior at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He plans to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, attend Ranger School, and ultimately deploy with an active Ranger Battalion.
Cadet Self is well on this way to fulfilling this life-long dream of service to his (our) country.
During his “knob” year at the Citadel, Self excelled in academics, physical training (PT), and leadership. He managed a 3.8 Grade Point Average, was awarded Gold Stars, made the President’s List and the Commandant’s List for “highest academic achievement” and “outstanding military duty.” Additionally, he was one of twelve cadets who led Hotel Company’s Kelly Cup Drill Squad to a first place victory.
During his Sophomore year, Self served as company clerk (first semester) and battalion clerk (second semester).
Out of 34 competing cadets, Self won a slot to attend - this summer - the U.S. Army Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky: Lots of PT, road marches, rappelling, and helicopter assault training ahead of him. When he returns to The Citadel in the fall, he’ll be Hotel Company’s 1st Sergeant.
Self is a paratrooper: If nothing else, that’s one of the most noble military titles a soldier can earn. Like countless airborne soldiers who’ve “put their knees to the breeze” since the pre-WWII days of the pioneering Parachute Test Platoon, Self earned his airborne wings at Fort Benning, Georgia. He did so, last summer.
Self is pretty good with his fists, too. I know, because I spent a morning over the 2003 Christmas holidays teaching him to hit the speedbag at the Columbia (S.C.) Downtown YMCA where his father, Keith, works.
Cadet Self is the future of the American Army, and with the world being the dangerous place it is in the 21st Century, we can take comfort in the fact that there are others like him: Bright, courageous, committed, like the men George Orwell referred to when he wrote, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
We’ve chosen the month of April 2005 for our first pick because it was exactly 230-years-ago this very month that the first soldier of the first free-American military force fired the first shot against an armed enemy.
For more about that event, see here.
Here’s how Soldier of the Month will work: Each month, one active, newly-recruited, retired, or former member of the American armed forces will be selected and featured (picture and comments) here at wthomassmithjr.com. They are not always going to be generals, admirals, or recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Some may be famous. Others ordinary (If you can believe any soldier, sailor, airmen, Marine, Coast Guardsman, cadet, or midshipman is ordinary). All deserve everything we can give them and more because they wear the uniform of the United States... and they do so for us... in dangerous times.
Our first entry, and the selection for April 2005, is Cadet Justin Self.
Cadet William Justin Self
SOLDIER OF THE MONTH
April 2005
Cadet William Justin Self (click name for photograph) is a rising junior at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He plans to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, attend Ranger School, and ultimately deploy with an active Ranger Battalion.
Cadet Self is well on this way to fulfilling this life-long dream of service to his (our) country.
During his “knob” year at the Citadel, Self excelled in academics, physical training (PT), and leadership. He managed a 3.8 Grade Point Average, was awarded Gold Stars, made the President’s List and the Commandant’s List for “highest academic achievement” and “outstanding military duty.” Additionally, he was one of twelve cadets who led Hotel Company’s Kelly Cup Drill Squad to a first place victory.
During his Sophomore year, Self served as company clerk (first semester) and battalion clerk (second semester).
Out of 34 competing cadets, Self won a slot to attend - this summer - the U.S. Army Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky: Lots of PT, road marches, rappelling, and helicopter assault training ahead of him. When he returns to The Citadel in the fall, he’ll be Hotel Company’s 1st Sergeant.
Self is a paratrooper: If nothing else, that’s one of the most noble military titles a soldier can earn. Like countless airborne soldiers who’ve “put their knees to the breeze” since the pre-WWII days of the pioneering Parachute Test Platoon, Self earned his airborne wings at Fort Benning, Georgia. He did so, last summer.
Self is pretty good with his fists, too. I know, because I spent a morning over the 2003 Christmas holidays teaching him to hit the speedbag at the Columbia (S.C.) Downtown YMCA where his father, Keith, works.
Cadet Self is the future of the American Army, and with the world being the dangerous place it is in the 21st Century, we can take comfort in the fact that there are others like him: Bright, courageous, committed, like the men George Orwell referred to when he wrote, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
Semper Fi,
WTSjr
# posted by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. @ 4:48 PM 
