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Winter 2014 Volume 9, Issue 1
South Dakota State University
Army ROTC Alumni
West Point of the Plains
Inside this
issue:
• Cadet Profile • 44 Kings SD Soldier of the Year Commissioning Alumni Features
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Commander’s Corner
Mark your calendars – Alumni WPPA meeting –9May14, 1000hrs Awards Banquet – 9May14 Commissioning – 9May14
Hello from the West Point of the Plains. I hope everyone is having a great 2014. The semester is off and running with classes, fitness, community events, color guard, LABS, FTX events, planning for summer training and of course commissioning on May 9th, 2014. We will commission 10 new Second Lieutenants. Recently we had four cadets post the American colors at a Minnesota Timberwolves NBA game. This was the second year our color guard did this event. The cadets looked sharp and make our program very proud of their service. Too bad the T-Wolves lost the game. We had a very successful Military Appreciation Night on February 6th at the SDSU men’s basketball game. The team wore camouflage uniforms to honor all the military services. The Jacks beat Fort Wayne in easy fashion and maybe they should be the new home uniforms! The SDSU athletic department hosted a silent auction for the uniforms and all proceeds will support the Wounded Warrior Project. Thank you to FMC Corporation for donating the money to purchase these uniforms. You may have heard some Army ROTC programs across the country were on a short list to close their programs. This past fall, USD and NDSU were two schools in our area that were on a list to close. The DoD is making budget cuts and closing Army ROTC programs is one way to save money. However, the Army has now instructed ALL programs to review their ROTC program on an annual basis. SDSU is going through this review process and I can say with utmost confidence our program will continue to remain a viable ROTC program and keep the doors open to commission Army lieutenants. We are having the commission ceremony on May 9th at 1:00pm at Lincoln Hall on the campus of SDSU. COL (retired) Liz Johnson will be our keynote speaker during the commissioning. Additionally, the cadet’s awards banquet is on May 9th. South Dakota State University graduation will be at 10:00 am on May 10th at Frost Arena. You are always welcome to attend any of these events. CPT Geoff Guthrie will be joining our staff as the APMS this spring. We welcome him and his family to SDSU! He is a ROTC graduate from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
West Point of the Plains
(Commander’s Corner Continued)
Please feel free to stop by our office if you are in Brookings. It would be great to hear from those veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and share those experiences with our cadets. Your input is valued and I know the cadets are hungry to learn from Soldiers who have deployed and served in various capacities all over the world. Thank you for your service.
Feel free to contact me at your convenience. My cell number is (605)215.2823 or my email address is [email protected]
Sincerely,
Aaron C. Schultz LTC, FA Professor of Military Science
Cadet Spotlight: Cole Doherty
Cadet Cole Doherty, Brookings, SD, attends Dakota State University. He has a 4-year Army ROTC Scholarship and is a History major. Cadet Doherty graduates in May 2014. Cadet Doherty led the Cadet Battalion as the Commander during Fall Semester 2013; this semester he is the Cadet S-5. When Cadet Doherty attended the Cultural Understanding and Language Program in Spain, he taught English at the Spanish Airborne School and was able to earn Spanish Airborne Wings. Cadet Doherty said, “My time spent in Spain for CULP has been the most nourishing experience up to this point in my ROTC career. I gained so many valuable lessons and friends from the trip that it remains unmatched by any other trip I have been on.” Cadet Doherty successfully completed CTLT at Fort Benning, GA, Cadet Field Training at West Point and Airborne School. He routinely scores 300+ on the Army Physical Fitness Test. Cadet Doherty teaches at his church, plays intramural sports and has worked part-time at Nick’s Hamburger Shop for several years. Cadet Doherty has been accessed into the Medical Service Corps and will begin active duty following graduation. He will attend the Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Sam Houston, TX.
West Point of the Plains
DePuy Military Hall in the 1940s DePuy Military Hall today
Army ROTC, also known as Military Science, at South Dakota State University will be 100 years old in 2016! The Battalion was formally recognized as a Charter program of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in 1916. To commemorate the occasion, The West Point of the Plains Association would like to host a get together for alumni and friends at Hobo Day in 2016. The Association is looking for volunteers to do some planning for the event. Please consider helping out however you can – not all volunteers would have to be on site to assist as there are details that can be accomplished from anywhere in the world via various communication links. It would be beneficial to have a cross section of alumni from throughout the years to help out. It is always enjoyable to work with others to achieve a common goal. The more volunteers there are, the more fun for all! Volunteers will be needed to determine the who, what, when, where and why and make decisions on what kind of celebration to host, contacting alumni, as well as all the elements it takes to put an event together. If you would enjoy helping plan a get together and are interested in volunteering, please contact Steve Kool at [email protected]
1916-2016 Duty, Honor, Country
West Point of the Plains
Seventy years ago a group of South Dakota State College students were in the process of becoming military officers, just like thousands of others their age as the nation rallied in the early years of World War II.
The twists in their story took these 52 young men from being ROTC cadets to Reserve Corps privates called to active duty and then back to campus in a span of 16 months. When they came back, they became known as the ’44 Kings, truly the big men on campus and, in a sense, immortal.
The tale of the ’44 Kings remains legendary, elevated by their formation of a last man’s club in 1985.
Of course, the Kings themselves are not immortal. While fortunate that combat took no more than two, time has burned out the wick of all but seven: Sherwood Berg, Elman Deering, Robert Hedman, John Moriarty, Ronald Peterson, Donald Thompson and Milton Sunde.
All are now in their 90s. Three — Berg, Moriarty and Peterson — live in Brookings. Deering is in Ohio. Hedman in Kansas. Thompson in North Carolina and Sunde in Wisconsin.
The last reunion for the ’44 Kings was in 1992. The bottle of Seagram’s V.O. Canadian Whisky that was promised to the last remaining survivor remains secure in a glass case in the office of the executive director of the Alumni Association.
What will actually happen to the bottle when the Kings are down to their last man isn’t clear. The survivors haven’t talked about it recently. Making of an officer
What is clear is the bookmark in history that the Kings created. Like all State College men of that era, these sophomores in the Class of 1944 were in the ROTC
program when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. The group wanted to become military officers, so they signed up for advanced ROTC beginning in the summer of 1942. They were simultaneously enlisted in the Reserve Corps.
The plan was to complete the program, which including military and classroom training in the summer, and then graduate with their classmates as officers in June 1944.
Berg, whose career included 10 years as president of his alma mater, says the cadets were told, in essence, “Don’t worry. Keep at your studies. The moment you’ve gotten your degree, the next moment you’ll get your second lieutenant commissioning.”
’44 Kings
Seven Decades Later Seven
Members Endure
West Point of the Plains
A change of orders That was the plan for about nine months, but then orders changed. “Sorry, we’re going to take you in,” recalls Berg, who had worked on the family’s Minnesota farm for
four years before coming to State in 1940 to study agricultural economics. There was no “sorry” in the official orders that came out of the Office of the Commanding General in
Omaha, Neb., March 18, 1943. The 52 privates in the State College infantry unit were “ordered to active duty” at Fort Snelling, Minn., by April 12, 1943.
There they would be processed and assigned to basic training in lieu of their second year of advanced ROTC training.
At 10 p.m. Saturday night, April 10, the community and college had a farewell program for the group at the Brookings Armory downtown. It included talks by college President Lyman Jackson, Col. Burr Irwin, Rev. A.E. Hanson and ROTC juniors Bob Nord, Chester Anderson, Ralph Wennblom and Bob Barnes, all part of what became the ’44 Kings.
The State College cheer squad and the women’s band, under the direction of professor Carl “Christy” Christensen, joined in the event sponsored by the Students’ Association and civic organizations. The American Legion Post presented a gift box to each man.
(Note: Other enlisted groups received similar sendoffs.) At Fort Snelling, the enlisted reserve students were screened, issued equipment, divided into two
companies, got an introduction to kitchen patrol and other aspects of Army life, and then headed to Camp Wolters, Texas, for basic training.
After 17 weeks in training, the Army wasn’t ready to send out the unit, so it returned home, indirectly.
Back to Brookings First the men spent about a week in the basement of a dormitory at Grinnell College in Iowa
because there was no housing for them at State College. The soldiers arrived back in Brookings Sept. 20-21, 1943, and were dubbed the Kings.
“When we got back, we were very important people on campus,” B.J. Gottsleben said in an interview for the 2003 book “College on the Hill.”
Hedman, who was majoring in civil engineering after being raised on a ranch west of Pierre, says, “we were treated like kings on campus. We were upperclassmen; most of us were seniors. The local people knew us. A lot of the guys had girlfriends there.”
While overall enrollment was down at State during the war, an Army Specialized Training Program for well-qualified young men age 17 and older had been started by the military at State. Several hundred of the participants were housed on campus, Hedman recalls.
These students voluntarily joined the program and attended State on military scholarships. They were housed at Scobey Hall and had a full-day of all-soldier classes with regular college professors as their instructors.
West Point of the Plains
The Jack Rabbit yearbook reports that the last of 1,200 of these students left State June 1, 1946, as the program ended. In addition to these young trainees, there were 250 reserve officers and a small group of Army Engineering soldiers on campus.
Hedman says the term “kings” may have been given the group because of its superiority over the new specialized program enrollees.
Sunde concurs. “When we got back to the campus we had been ‘worked on’ pretty hard and thought we were tough. There were other armed forces on the campus. When we were marching on campus we made the other marching units get off the sidewalk.
“This sort of got the ’44 Kings story going,” Sunde recalls. Ronald M. Peterson, of Brookings, recalls that there also was an Army Air Corps unit stationed on
campus. “Both of the units would be marching on Medary.” There wasn’t much traffic on the avenue in that
era, he says. The Air Corps would sing “Wild Blue Yonder,” which ends with “Nothing stops the Army Air Corps.” The Kings would heckle, “Except the weather.”
It was good-natured ribbing. “We didn’t know the guys and they didn’t know us,” Peterson says. Finding leisure in a full schedule
The Kings’ quarters were in the basement of Wecota Hall. “We kicked the girls out,” Berg says with a smile. Mess hall was on the first floor of Wecota Hall. Hedman adds, “That was a nice break for us to get to come back” to a familiar setting.
The privates took classes related to their majors and went on several long marches, including one to Volga.
Roll call was in the hands of the unit’s seniors. The schedule, including meals and study hours, was strictly regimented. When there was free time in the dorm, penny-ante poker with a two-cent limit was popular, Donald Thompson recalls.
Thompson, originally of Sinai, added that he and some of the other Kings did take advantage of being back in South Dakota in the fall to hunts pheasants several times, including a couple trips as far out as Oldham. From King to groom
Everyone was granted leave Saturday, Oct. 9, when King Thomas Lyons was married. A picture of his bachelor party at the 7-0 Club in downtown Brookings captured most of the unit gathered around the bar and was published in “College on the Hill.”
After the couple’s wedding at a Brookings church, the Kings formed parallel lines and kissed the bride on the cheek as the newlyweds recessed.
The Kings were truly living a royal life at this point. The men expected to remain big men on campus until their spring 1944 graduation, when they would go to Officer Candidate School. But they were in the military. New orders arrived, and they boarded the train for Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Ga., the day after Thanksgiving, 1943.
Graduation from Officer Candidate School was April 18, 1944. At this point the men were split into different infantry divisions and helped the Allies achieve V-E Day May 8, 1945. Veterans return to State
After the war, the majority of the State soldiers made their way back to college in Brookings and many married. Some lived off campus. Other lived in the married-student housing barracks. Many of the single guys were quartered in a wing of Scobey Hall.
Again, they were the big men on campus.
West Point of the Plains
In “College on the Hill,” King Lee Engen relates, “You had to take your hat off to the administration. They were very tolerant of all these veterans. We’d done things that if you had even thought about ’em before, you’d have been kicked out.
“We set a bar up for dances, we had drinks. But nobody got out of line. There weren’t any fights. There wasn’t anybody who got all boozed up.”
Most graduated in 1947. The Kings returned to campus periodically for Hobo Day reunions. Last man club forms
A 1985 letter from Bryan Baughman to fellow King Lyons gave birth to the last man’s club. Baughman wrote, “Someone suggested that we form a last man’s club. I have a bottle of Seagram’s VO (dated 1937) that I found in the trunk of the old Buick after the Barn Dance in March 1943 which I will donate.”
The jolly ebullience that crafted the last man’s club 28 years ago no longer reigns. “Now, there’s only seven of them left. It almost seems like the realization has hit them. It used to be
a great, funny thing,” says Thomas Phalen, grandson of Lyons. Through the years, he has contacted 30 men who served with his grandfather and has collected memorabilia from many of them.
He maintains regular contact with Elman Deering, who always asks, “’How many left are there?” Phalen says.
The remaining Kings do not keep regular contact between themselves, they say. Deering, turned 93 on Sept. 30, didn’t retire from a career in commercial real estate until 2007. Regarding the spirits that the last man will garner, he says, “I haven’t thought that I would be the winner of that.”
Hedman, who turned 92 on June 28, says, “I’m probably as healthy as any of them. I’m pretty good, healthwise.” Peterson, 91, who ran an apple orchard after retiring from State, also finds himself in good health.
However, none of the Kings had thoughts about what should become of the bottle. Marion Davies DeKraay, the honorary cadet colonel for the Kings, was the keeper
of the bottle until her demise in 2001. Now the award in housed in the alumni association office awaiting one of seven men.
Or perhaps the flask will live on as a testament to the Kings’ legacy. This article was written by Dave Graves, SDSU University Relations, for the November 2013 IMPACT State publication. Our thanks to Dave for the exceptional article as well as the research and the photos that contributed to the article. Reprinted with permission. The surviving Kings Sherwood Berg ’47, Brookings, captain, commanding the Third Division, which fired 81 mm mortars and heavy machine guns. Career in higher education, including 10 years as president of SDSU. Elman Deering ’47, Akron, Ohio, sergeant in charge of a machine gun squad in the 69th Infantry Division. Career as a commercial and industrial real estate broker for 40 years in Akron. Robert Hedman ’47, Lawrence, Kan., served as a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the 385th Infantry Regiment in the 76th Division, which fought major battles in the Bulge (Ardennes), Rhineland and Central Europe. Career as an hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and as a civil engineer in various Army and Air Force Reserve units. John Moriarty ’47, Brookings, was dismissed from the Army due to stomach ulcers during processing at Fort Snelling. He also was denied enrollment in the other military branches. Returned to pharmacy school and completed a 40-year career as a pharmacist.
West Point of the Plains
Ronald M. Peterson, Brookings, served in a rifle platoon of Company G of the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Division during the Battle for Brest until a sniper wounded him. Following recovery in England, he returned to France as a sergeant in the 384th MP Battalion. In 1953, he began a 34-year career in the SDSU Department of Horticulture and Forestry, including 16 years as department head. Donald Thompson ’47, Cary, N.C., went to jump school after Officer Candidate School, served as a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division. Career of 30 years with North Carolina State as a plant breeder hybrid corn research. Milton Sunde ’47, Madison, Wis., trained in heavy weapons at Camp Wolters. In July 1944, was assigned to "I" Company, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division. Awarded a Bronze Star. Career as a faculty member of the University of Wisconsin Poultry Science Department until his retirement in 1987.
On 18Dec13, two Army ROTC Cadets were commissioned into the US Army. 2LT Quade Jansen Klepper and 2LT Taylor Zoelle were commissioned in a ceremony at Lincoln Music Hall on the campus of South Dakota State University. Retired Colonel Spencer Hawley, South Dakota Army National Guard, was the guest speaker. The ceremony was well attended by the campus community, family and friends of the commissionees.
2LT Quade Jansen Klepper is a 2LT in the Minnesota Army National Guard. He was branched Field Artillery and goes to BOLC in February. 2LT Zoelle has an Educational Delay to pursue a medical degree before he goes on active duty as a doctor. 2LT Zoelle will attend BOLC at Fort Sam Houston, TX.
Commissioning – December 2013
Alumni and friends of Army ROTC continue to support the current program through visits, phone calls, emails and donations. Our thanks to you all; we appreciate each and every gesture of support. Visits or donations have come from Joe Winter, LTC Berry, Steve Richter, Chase Olson, Jacob Lueders, Frank Luczak, Margaret Bendorf, Michael Opbroek, Susan Crews and Amanda, Dean Tubandt, Donald Holliday, Brad Bechen, David Heath, James Berreth, Andrew Berreth, Jordan Day, Layne Merritt, Gerald Coulture, Lynn Hohensee, Rochele Anderson, Casey Kahler, Colin Jorgensen, Doug Tystad, Ken Myers, Bruce Potsma, Ralph Borkowski, Ken Odde, Dennis Newharth, John Heemstra, Bob Markovetz, Steve Andraschko, Jim Hay, Don Broksieck, Flash & Kathleen Helm, Rochele Anderson, Jordan Weiss, Nesa Helm, Mike Popp, Richard Behr, Lowell Kruse, Tom Martin, Jess Powell, Bruce Kyllonen, Martin & Gloria Kloster, Duane Harms, Don Bunkers, Mark Van Hout, Bill & Eleanor Taylor, Rick Crawford, Steve Sewell, John Peterson, David & Mary Howard, Andrea Miller, David Lewis, Orv Smidt, Peter Hauff, Dennis York, Ben Steichen, Gen & JoAnne Goodale, Roger Peterson, TD Kreger, Marty Wennblom, Verdell Johnson, Keith Corbett, Al Lance, Jan Griesenbrock, Randal Nelson, Chuck Streeter, Steve & Ila Kool, Gary Wattnem, Mary Carstensen, Dr. & Mrs. Michael Adelaine, Richard & Kathryn Howard, Tom & DeeDee Josten, Evan & Diane Renz, Jerry & JoAnn Jorgensen, Joyce Sugrue, & Burdette Blumer. We all share a common bond, and the time spent visiting and reminiscing is great.
West Point of the Plains
Soldier of Honor—LTC Steven J. Richter was recognized for his actions on 5Nov09 when Major Nidal Hasan began shooting at Fort Hood killing thirteen people and wounding many more. LTC Richter was a Major and was chief of operations and deployment medicine at Fort Hood, TX, at the time. He heard shots in the Readiness Center that day and thought it might be a training exercise. It wasn’t. After directing people out of the building and getting outside himself, he saw Major Hasan firing. Hasan turned to Richter, the red laser from the gun sight flickering in Richter’s eyes. Misfire. Instead, a nearby police officer seriously wounded Hasan. Richter rushed to the downed man, grabbing his gun before realizing it was jammed. Once police arrived,
Richter began treating Hasan’s wounds and attempted to stop the bleeding by sticking his index finger in the bullet hole.
For his extraordinary actions on 5Nov09, LTC Richter was awarded the Soldier’s Medal at a private ceremony on the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Fort Hood. The Soldier’s Medal is the highest award for heroism demonstrated outside wartime battle. LTC Richter graduated and was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps Officer at SDSU in
1996. While at SDSU, he was the Cadet Battalion Commander, worked as an UPD Student patrol Officer and was part of the cheer squad for men’s basketball and football. Today, LTC Richter is serving as the Deputy Commander for Administration at the Armed Forces Research Institute for Medical Science in Bangkok, Thailand. His assignments include 2nd IN Division (Mechanized), Camp Casey, Korea; 25th IN Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, HI; XO in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and Chief, Medical Logistics and later, Chief, Clinical Support Division, Yongsan, Korea. LTC Richter earned a Ranger Tab, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge as well as countless other awards. LTC Richter is married to Tami (Stoudt) Richter, Leander, TX, and they have four children: Major, Elaina, Lydia and William. Special thanks for the contents of this article go to The Leader, Liberty Hill, TX, and to LTC Jeffrey Berry, former PMS at SDSU. LTC Berry and his wife, Chirachit, were in Thailand last summer and visited the Richter family.
The Color Guard at the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves Game on 31 January 2014 with Cadets Peter Delgado, Jordan Smith, Derek Lankford and Spencer Biermann
Soldier of Honor LTC Steven Richter
West Point of the Plains
Spc. Dalton DeBoer competes in the 6-mile road march during the annual
South Dakota Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition at Camp Rapid in Rapid City, S.D. DeBoer is a sophomore at SDSU.
Specialist Dalton DeBoer was named the South Dakota Army National Guard Soldier of the Year following the state’s Best Warrior Competition Sept. 19-22 at Camp Rapid. DeBoer, a sophomore majoring in construction management at South Dakota State University, won the enlisted category and will now compete in a regional competition May 18-22, 2014, in Rapid City.
The state’s three-day competition consisted of a series of 12 events including a written exam, essay writing, battle drills, M-16 rifle marksmanship, land navigation, an obstacle course, a 6-mile road march while carrying a 40-pound pack, and a physical fitness test.
“I thought the toughest part was going to be the boards, going in front of the sergeant majors and answering their questions. After doing it, it was the hardest part. It was the most stressful,” said DeBoer, who is from Clear Lake. “They gave us a big study guide but there was a lot to study.”
DeBoer had been preparing for the physical part of the test since the summer. In addition to training with the SDSU ROTC unit, he worked out with Staff Sgt. Sam Schaefers, who won the noncommissioned officer category.
Following the interview session with the sergeant majors, it was time to get to the physically demanding sections.
“I was ready to get outside and start doing the more physical competitions and shooting,” he said. “The land navigation was kind of frustrating. It was a tough course. We were given five points and needed to find a post they put in the trees. We had two hours to find it.”
As the competition was wrapping up, DeBoer felt good about his chances to win. “I knew I had a chance to win. I felt I had done pretty well up to that point but I knew there were
others right up there with me, who had done well in all of the events,” he said. “I knew the NCO from my unit won so I had to win, too.”
DeBoer is a member of the Watertown-based Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-147th Field Artillery Battalion.
“I’ve always been interested in the military. I wanted to go active duty and was told I should go to college first so I joined the National Guard while in college. I’m glad I did it,” said DeBoer about his decision to join the S.D. National Guard.
And now he gets to say he is one of the nation’s best.
This article was written by Matt Schmidt, SDSU University Relations, for the November 2013 IMPACT State publication. Our thanks to Matt for the great article. Photos contributed by the SDARNG, CSM Shoe and SSG Michael Beck. Reprinted with permission.
Cadet Highlight: Sophomore named S.D. Army National Guard Soldier of the Year
West Point of the Plains
My Philosopher’s Stone: I graduated from South Dakota State University in June 1962 with a BS in Animal Science with “minors” in Chemistry and Range Management. I served in the ROTC Cadet Corps for 4 years. I was a member of Pershing Rifles, Scabbard & Blade, attained the rank of Cadet Colonel and received a DMS. My experience in ROTC and subsequent military duty had a great impact on my future outlook on life. You can take a “person” out of the military but you cannot take the military out of the person. Personal responsibility and integrity are set within the mold. Upon graduation my wife, Kay Wieters Streeter, our son, Bill, and I moved to Lincoln NE. I received a MS & PhD in Animal Nutrition from UN in 1966. While there I studied under the tutelage of Dr. D.C. Clanton. My investigations involved the quantitative determination of the intake of grazing beef cattle as well as the utilization said forage. I had a NDEA fellowship that was paid one time a year and required some care in its distribution. Bob, our second son, and Jennifer our daughter were born in Nebraska. Upon graduation from UN we packed up our pickup camper and traveled from Kay’s parents’ home
near Scotland, SD to Ft. Sam Houston, TX. I attended basic officer training there having been promoted to 1st Lt. because of my graduate studies. My first duty was at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. I was assigned to the statistical branch. After 6 months of filling out forms for transfer to the Biochemistry branch, I succeeded. At AFIP, I “worked” under Bill Fishbein who had a MS in Public Health, PhD in Biochemistry and MD from John Hopkins. I used ratio isotopes to study urease metabolism, during this period of time; I also moonlit at the USDA Research
Station at Beltsville, MD. While there, I did studies with Pete Van Sooest one of the best nutritionist I have ever known. We studied urea metabolism in sheep. I mustered out on March 13, 1968 where upon I started a post doctorate in Animal Science at the University of Kentucky under George E. Mitchell (the greatest man I have ever known). I did a bit of surgery and taught energy metabolism while George went on sabbatical. Our youngest child, Richard, was born in Lexington, KY. In 1969 we travelled to Ft. Collins, CO where I taught Ungulate Ecology in the Animal Science Department and ran the laboratory for George Van Dyne in the International Biological Program. I decided to become a “Federal Agent” in 1971 and accepted a position with the USDA at the Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, NE under the very able Keith Gregory. In 1972, I returned to the University of Kentucky for another post doctorate under George Mitchell and Oron Little. I got a call one day from my step-father, Eben W. Streeter, asking me if I would like to return to Streeter Ranch as he had purchased the Rancher Feed and Seed grain elevator in Buffalo Gap, SD. I jumped at the opportunity. Kay and I ran a Simmental Cattle operation on a traditional Hereford Ranch from 1973 to 1979. I also committed the cattlemen’s worst sin. I ran sheep. Continued
Alumni Feature Dr. Chuck Streeter
West Point of the Plains
Continued: Dr. Chuck Streeter After “breaking even” during the drought and economic disaster of the 70’s we moved to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, where I had my third post doctorate under a very bright, Gerald Horn. The Department Chair and the Dean of Agriculture didn’t seem to understand the importance of humor in OK so I said goodbye and again became a Federal Agent with the USDA at the El Reno Experiment Station. My meager training in politics did not fit well so I left. In 1983, cows, wife and kids moved to the old cow town of Miles City, MT, where I was the Nutritionist for a small branch of Con Agra. Again my lack of political deviousness led to my seeking a future as a Private Nutritionist in eastern Montana. I loved it, but times were hard and Kay mostly supported the family. I became depressed and dropped out of society where I have been ever since. I’m now living on the outskirts of Hot Springs, SD, in an old house that my landlady, Kay Streeter, bought for me. I moved into the house in September of 2013 and began remodeling. I have four cats; a snow leopard, a lion, a “Bob” cat, and a cat named Wes. POSTSCRIPT: I have found that life provides many ways to learn. Books are valuable but not absolute. Experience is the best teacher. Having trials and tribulations are essential. One must experience the darker aspects of life to see the light, for there is no light to see without the presence of darkness. I have experienced civilization and have found it lacking. My “tests in the woods” have shown me that one must have No Fear to be free. Be not attached to even the light for too much light can burn one. So they say! That’s all; I do not know the future. There is only now. For more details contact: Charles Larry Deeming Streeter, Phone: 605-891-8126; Mail: PO Box 174, Hot Springs, SD 57747.
LUMNI and RIENDS: Please plan to attend the West Point of the
Plains Association Council meeting on 9 May 2014 at 1000 in the conference room at DePuy Military Hall. Plan to participate in the initial discussion of an event in 2016 for the 100th Anniversary of Army ROTC at SDSU. Please come to spend part of the day with Army ROTC and attend the WPPA meeting at 1000, followed by the commissioning ceremony at 1300 and the awards banquet at 1800. Retired Colonel Elizabeth Johnson, class of 1982, will speak at the commissioning ceremony. Attend as many events as you can on 9May14. Army ROTC Awards Banquet tickets go on sale in April. Please consider this invitation to attend the banquet. The caterer requires specific attendance numbers; please RSVP for banquet tickets by 2May14.
West Point of the Plains
LTC (P) Richard A. Behr is the Assistant Deputy Commander for Patient Services, Reynolds Army Community Hospital, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
LTC Richard Behr was commissioned at South Dakota State University on December 28th, 1991, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and a Minor in Military Science. His first assignment was as a staff nurse on the Male General Surgery Ward at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Subsequently, he was assigned in1995 to Munson Army Community Hospital, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; where he worked as a Charge Nurse in the Acute Care Clinic and Gentry Outpatient Clinic.
LTC Behr transferred to Hawaii, where he served as the Chief Nurse Officer in Charge (CNOIC) of the Family Practice Clinic, United States Army Health Clinic, Schofield Barracks from 1997-2000. During this tenure, he was also selected to be the Deputy Chief of Nursing Informatics at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. He served as the CNOIC of Same Day Surgery, Recovery Room and Medical, Surgical, Pediatric Nursing Services at
Reynolds Army Community Hospital, Fort Sill, Oklahoma from 2001 until spring of 2004. LTC Behr’s next assignment was Chief of Hospital Operations at Weed Army Community Hospital, Fort Irwin, California from Spring of 2004 until Summer of 2005, when he deployed with the 47th Combat Support Hospital out of Fort Lewis, Washington. LTC Behr served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Mosul, Iraq from October 2005
until October 2006 as the CNOIC of the Intermediate Care Ward, and also worked extensively with the 332nd EMDG (Expeditionary Medical Group) Air Force Hospital in Balad, providing combat care to American and Coalition Forces. During this timeframe, LTC Behr worked with the “Medical Group Project”, in which updated medical literature was transitioned from various medical institutions in the United States (such as University of Minnesota Medical School, University of Mississippi, and Berkley Medical University Programs) to update medical references in Iraqi hospitals and improve their overall health care reference capabilities. Upon his return from
deployment, LTC Behr served as the CNOIC of Medical/Surgical/Pediatric Nursing and Chief of Ambulatory Nursing at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital from January 2007 until July of 2009. He then served as Chief Nurse of the Department of Primary Care at Evans Army Community Hospital, Fort Carson, Colorado, where he oversaw the medical expansion of outpatient services and the construction of the Soldier Family Care Center. Continued
Alumni Feature LTC Richard A. Behr
West Point of the Plains
Continued: LTC Richard Behr LTC Behr was then transferred back to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he serves as the Deputy Commander for Patient Services and the Assistant Chief Nurse of Reynolds Army Community Hospital. LTC Behr completed the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 2004. LTC Behr earned a Master of Arts in Human Resources Development from Webster University in 2007, graduating with Honors. He has also completed the Officer’s Basic Course, the Chemical/Biological Warfare Course, Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Pre-Command Correspondence Course, the Clinical Head Nurse Course, Nuclear Hazards Training Course, the Manager’s Development Course, Combined Arms and Staff Services School at Fort Leavenworth, the Advanced Nurse Leadership Course, the Warrior Transition Unit Case Management Course, and the AMEDD Executive Skills Course. He is currently awaiting his next leadership assignment tasking for summer of 2014 and was recently selected for promotion to Colonel.
LTC Richard Behr’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal (4th award), the Army Commendation Medal (4th award), the Army Achievement Medal (5th award), the National Defense Service Medal (2 stars), the Iraqi Campaign Medal with 2 campaign stars, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Overseas Service Ribbon (2 awards). He also was nominated and received the coveted “Order of the Military Medical Merit” in 2011; a highly prized nomination in the AMEDD awarded to those whose dedicated application of talent, effort, and spirit have made exemplary contributions to the United States Army Medical Department.
LTC Richard Behr hails from Granite Falls, Minnesota, where he graduated from High School in 1987. He married Lori Jean Behr from Brookings, South Dakota, in August of 1996. His parents, Art and Mary Behr, still reside on their family farm in rural Granite Falls.
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South Dakota State University Army ROTC Alumni
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Department of Military Science South Dakota State University
Box 2236 Brookings, SD 57007-1597
PHONE:
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FAX: (605) 688-6372
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HOW CAN YOU HELP ARMY ROTC?
1. The West Point of the Plains Foundation Account provides financial support to the overall Army ROTC program. Please make donations payable to the SDSU Foundation account 70423.
2. The Greater State Fund was established by the SDSU Foundation in recent years to provide another opportunity for donors to support Army ROTC. Please make donations payable to the SDSU Foundation account 70967.
3. The Colonel Dwight D. Adams Scholarship was established several years ago in honor of COL Adams investment in Army ROTC. He was PMS for several years and supported the program for many more years while he lived in Brookings. The scholarship fund is nearly depleted, and the account will be closed without additional support. Each year, one Cadet has been awarded a $500 scholarship from this scholarship fund. Please make donations payable to the SDSU Foundation account 80009.
Your donations to any of the great programs listed above will ensure that the West Point of the Plains Battalion Cadets will carry on your legacy and that the SDSU Army ROTC remains Army Strong! To access the SDSU Foundation website, please follow the link to http://www.sdsufoundation.org/ and click on the “How to Give” tab or mail donations to the SDSU Foundation, Box 525, Brookings, SD 57007. See us at FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/SDSUArmyROTCAlumni
Professor of Military Science LTC Aaron Schultz [email protected] Assistant Professor of Military Science CPT Geoff Guthrie [email protected] Senior Military Instructor MSG Charles White [email protected] Enrollment Scholarship Officer Mr. Troy Ness [email protected] Military Instructor Mr. John Mahlen [email protected] Supply Technician Russ Chavez [email protected] Human Resource Assistant Garnet Wosje [email protected]
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