SENATE MEMORIAL 76

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

William H. Payne

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE ONE-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMY RESERVE TRAINING CORPS.

     WHEREAS, 2016 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the army reserve officer training corps program, more commonly known as army ROTC; and

     WHEREAS, the story of army ROTC started as far back as 1819 when Captain Alden Partridge established a program of military instruction known as the American literary, scientific and military academy; and

     WHEREAS, the official army ROTC program was born as a result of President Woodrow Wilson's signing of the National Defense Act on June 3, 1916, and the program has continually grown and evolved to meet the nation's demand for quality leaders; and

     WHEREAS, today, the program has grown to two hundred seventy-five programs located at colleges and universities throughout the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, with an enrollment of more than thirty thousand participants; and

     WHEREAS, army ROTC produces more than seventy percent of the second lieutenants who join the active army, the army national guard and the United States army reserve; and

     WHEREAS, during the past one hundred years, the army ROTC has commissioned more than six hundred thousand officers, yielding such visionary leaders as Sam Walton, founder of Walmart; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito; and

     WHEREAS, the university of New Mexico army ROTC's mission is to partner with the university of New Mexico to recruit, educate, develop and commission fifteen officers of character for the United States army annually; and

     WHEREAS, this goal is accomplished by recruiting scholar-athlete-leaders who are trained and educated with the best leader development program in the world; and

     WHEREAS, the university of New Mexico's army ROTC program has commissioned one hundred eighty-six officers since 1987; and

     WHEREAS, army ROTC graduates remain fully prepared to lead the forces to defend America's freedom in an increasingly complex world;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that recognition and congratulations be extended to the army reserve officer training corps program on its one-hundredth anniversary; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the commanding officer of the university of New Mexico army reserve officer training corps.

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