In honor of Veteran's Day, I pulled this interesting story from the November 1973 "FTU Emphasis" newsletter. It's an interesting glimpse into the early years of the ROTC program at the university, something that--like the nation's military, overall--we tend to take for granted.
Enjoy the story, and if you have any old ROTC photos, memorabilia, or even stories of old traditions, please drop me an email. ROTC is as important to the University of Central Florida as any other academic program, or club or organization, and deserves a place in the school's history.
"Air Force ROTC Second Year 'Still Going, Still Growing'"
Air Force ROTC is well into its second year at Florida Technological University and all indications are that Detachment 159 will have an even more impressive year than it had last year.
The first indicator is in the area of enrollment: the cadet corps has increased in size from 47 last June to 87 this September. Among these 87 cadets are 11 women (compared to 8 last year) and 16 AFROTC scholarship winners (there were 5 last year).
A second indication of this growth is seen in the expansion of the curriculum. With the addition of a senior class, both AFR 400 and a flight instruction program consists of a 4 qtr. hour ground school taught by Captain Clark Hoffman and 36 1/2 hours of flight instruction taught at a local flight school, and paid for by the Air Force.
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With more cadets, an increased curriculum, a larger staff (and, we might add, a new cadet lounge utilized for recreation and study by the cadets and their guests), the Air Force ROTC program at FTU seems well on its way to another successful year.
This blog site will track and provide constant updates for The University of Central Florida: Campus History, a collaborative effort between the University of Central Florida Alumni Association and Arcadia Publishing. Set for an '09 release, this book will be the first (and, to date, only) complete book-length history of the school's first four decades.
UCF Reflecting Pond
The Project
The University of Central Florida has stood at the edges of Orlando for forty years, a major institution of research, culture, education, and professional development, stitched into the very fabric of one of the nation's most dynamic and influential metropolitan areas.
It is a school that, founded in 1963 (the same year Walt Disney made his fateful fly over Central Florida and chose the location for his now-famous Walt Disney World), has grown along with the surrounding community, year by year, in size, prominence, and power.
Over 50,000 students currently attend the University of Central Florida, and hundreds of thousands have earned their degrees here since the first semester of classes in 1968. Each has left a mark on the campus, and for the last forty years, it seems as if each new year has seen the school pass some new milestone: a living and working hospitality management school, an on-campus football stadium, a medical school. For a young university, this is a place whose history is being written and revised each year, whose accomplishments are far from over...but this is also an institution with a rich history and a rich tradition.
And, for the first time ever, we are attempting to collect that full history.
But this won't simply be a dry, newspaper-style account of the university's growth, nor will this simply be a bullet-pointed list of accomplishments, as you might see on a web site or brochure.
This will be your history, a collection that showcases the University of Central Florida through extensive photographs, archival material, and individual accounts. What were the most important moments to define the school, from 1963 to the present? What are the most lasting images? What have been the most important landmarks, the most important traditions, the most important events? Who are the people who have helped to build this school into what it is today?
UCF is a school that has been writing its history for the past forty years, and now we will truly have a document to capture that history. Check back to this blog site frequently for updates, calls for interviews and stories, and calls for photographs. This is a project that can only succeed with the help of the students and alumni who call UCF their alma mater.
It is a school that, founded in 1963 (the same year Walt Disney made his fateful fly over Central Florida and chose the location for his now-famous Walt Disney World), has grown along with the surrounding community, year by year, in size, prominence, and power.
Over 50,000 students currently attend the University of Central Florida, and hundreds of thousands have earned their degrees here since the first semester of classes in 1968. Each has left a mark on the campus, and for the last forty years, it seems as if each new year has seen the school pass some new milestone: a living and working hospitality management school, an on-campus football stadium, a medical school. For a young university, this is a place whose history is being written and revised each year, whose accomplishments are far from over...but this is also an institution with a rich history and a rich tradition.
And, for the first time ever, we are attempting to collect that full history.
But this won't simply be a dry, newspaper-style account of the university's growth, nor will this simply be a bullet-pointed list of accomplishments, as you might see on a web site or brochure.
This will be your history, a collection that showcases the University of Central Florida through extensive photographs, archival material, and individual accounts. What were the most important moments to define the school, from 1963 to the present? What are the most lasting images? What have been the most important landmarks, the most important traditions, the most important events? Who are the people who have helped to build this school into what it is today?
UCF is a school that has been writing its history for the past forty years, and now we will truly have a document to capture that history. Check back to this blog site frequently for updates, calls for interviews and stories, and calls for photographs. This is a project that can only succeed with the help of the students and alumni who call UCF their alma mater.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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1 comment:
Great article!
I was there in the first ROTC class. I attended FTU from 1970 thru 1974. Was one of the first eight officers commissioned June 74up in President Millican's office. I was the first cadet corps commander of Det 159. We built the detachment from scratch. A couple of us drove to Gainesville in September 1972 on orders from Sgt. Wilson our detachments first NCOIC and borrowed a copy of everything! We obtained our portable buildings from Patric AFB. These buildings were our cadet offices, supply room and cadet lounge. Our cadre named and established the AAS squadron after the then commander of ROTC, General Robert M. White, Major Whisenant's (the first PAS) former boss at Maxwell AFB. General White who was the frist to be awarded astronaut wings flying a fixed wing aircraft the X-15attended the chapter installation luncheon at the old Village Center multi-purpose room. Captain Hoffman taught most of the PMC courses and was attached to fly the base ops squadron T-29 at McCoy AFB. He came to us from a tour flying the OV-10 in Southesast Asia. Our Detachment's first "Dining Out" was shared with our sister detachment at Embry Riddle. A group of us attended AAS conclave in Salt Lake city. On our return to Florida we overnighted at Maxwell AFB the very day that the POW's arrived at Maxwell for debriefing in April of 1973. We were there in the base terminal to welcome them home. ROTC was part of the College of Natural Science under Dean Kissel with offices on the third floor of the old admin building.
After commissioning I attend Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus AFB, MS. Upon receiving my pilot wings I was assigned the T-43A (Boeing 737) at Mather AFB, CA and flew missions for five wonderful years. In 1981 I left the the Air Force with an FAA Boeing 737 Captain rating and joined Southwest Airlines. I have been with Southwest over 28 years and am a Captain and Checkairman based at MCO.
During my time at FTU I was a member of Pegasus Pilots flying club, a charter member of the XI-Iota chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. In addition I was a member of the Village Center (Student Union) board. I worked part time for the Village Center and one of my duties was compiling, editing and publishing the campus calendar. In addition I was on the host committe for President Nixon's commencement address visit in June 1973. Yes, the school was small but the things we accomplished were big and exciting.
Bob Ryan, BA 74
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