MS
Murray S.
  • history
  • Class of 2017
  • Capitol Heights, Md.

ROTC cadet Shackelford present flags at Little League U.S. championship game

2016 Aug 31

Fifteen local Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) cadets revved up the crowd at the U.S. championship Little League game on Aug. 27 by presenting the U.S. and Pennsylvania state flag during a color guard ceremony to kick off the game.

The cadets are members of the Bison ROTC Battalion, which consists of college students from Lycoming College, Penn College, Bloomsburg, Susquehanna and Bucknell Universities.

Five Lycoming College cadets, in dress blues and rifles, brought a U.S. flag and Pennsylvania state flag onto the field. Ten other ROTC cadets and members of the local Marine Corps unfurled a 30-foot by 50-foot flag from Penn College to thunderous applause. The troops remained in place for the playing of the national anthem.

"I'm honored to been in the color guard for the U.S. championship game for many years," said Doug Lane, a member of the Williamsport Marine Corps League. "I'm pleased to have our young ROTC members supporting us at the event over the past few years. It's a great joint effort between our groups."

This year's color guard was directed by Jacob Miller, a senior ROTC cadet from Lycoming College. "Working with my peers and the veterans from the Marine Corps League provided me with another opportunity to continue my development as a leader, which I'll need as an officer in the Army. Being in ROTC is a way for me to help others and serve my country."

Miller has participated in the championship game color guard since the battalion got involved in 2014. The ceremony helps the cadets learn the proper way to perform a color guard, build a relationship with veterans, and raise awareness about the program.

Students involved with the ceremony include: Andrew Dion, a Lycoming College sophomore with an undeclared major from Tiverton, R.I.; Jacob Fronko, a Lycoming College senior with a major in ecology from Lewisberry, Pa.; Sean Hastings, a Lycoming College junior with a major in history from Levittown, Pa.; Jacob Miller, a Lycoming College senior with a major in anatomy and physiology from Cooperstown, N.Y.

Reserve Officer Training Corps is a college program offered at more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the United States that prepares young adults to become officers in the U.S. military. In exchange for a paid college education and a guaranteed post-college career, cadets commit to serve in the Military after graduation. The Bison Battalion, which has seen an increase in numbers for the incoming class of 2020, commissions new Second Lieutenants to serve in either the Active Army, Army Reserve or National Guard. http://www.bucknell.edu/ROTC