My favorite day of the year. The day a present a monetary scholarship award to a deserving Army ROTC Cadet at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
One feels so proud, so secure, and so amazed just sitting in the room with these fine men and women who our country’s future so depends on.
This year’s recipient is Cadet Miles Anthony. He was born in Goshen, New York. Twenty-two years old…same age as Herby when his helicopter went down in Vietnam.
Miles was also Emcee for today’s award ceremony.
Cadet Anthony knew upon graduation that he was going into the military as five out of six of his cousins also joined the military. Developing a huge love of the military from a young age, he is now third generation military.
He also knew he wanted to be an Officer and planned his future well. He was accepted to Embry-Riddle where he earned a campus-based scholarship and contract to finish school. During this time he has maintained a 3.72 GPA in Human Factors and is actively involved in the Army ROTC as the Battalion XO.
He was selected for CULP in the summer of 2015 where he went to Nepal to trained with the Nepalese rangers. He also helped to rebuild a school outside of Kathmandu in the Himalayan Mountains.
He hopes to one day be an Army Aviator or an EOD bomb technician.
In addition to his formal schooling and ROTC, he maintains a part-time job with the Dean of Students Office on campus, created the Embry-Riddle Wrestling Club, and plays intramural soccer. His hobbies include racing motocross, snowboarding, fishing, and shooting.
I’d say we have another fine young man who I adored talking with over dinner after the awards ceremony. Men like Miles and all his Eagle Battalion comrades (male and female) make me proud.
Firebird Nine One 