Extraordinary Altitude: President Rhodes Dives into ROTC Training
by Karen Clos,
Director of Communications –
A&M–Central Texas President Richard M. Rhodes, Ph.D. gives a thumbs up during the free fall of a tandem skydiving jump over Kentucky.
The door opened at 12,000 feet. Wind rushed into the aircraft cabin. Below, the Kentucky countryside near Fort Knox stretched in every direction—a patchwork of fields, roads, and tree lines stitched together beneath a summer sky.
Briefly, there was only open air and the hum of the plane’s engines. Then Texas A&M University–Central Texas President Richard M. Rhodes, Ph.D., stood up with his training partner and stepped out of a perfectly good airplane. And, oh yeah: Rhodes is a young 75 years old.
More typical university presidents spend their summers enjoying the slower pace of academia. Some attend conferences, host meetings, or work through strategic plans. Heck, some even take well-earned vacations with family.
And with the university having recently opened the CORE building, developing its Military Talent Pipeline facility, launching its first doctoral degree programs, expanding its presence on the Temple College campus, exploring its first residence hall, and pursuing NAIA competitive status for athletics, A&M–Central Texas is experiencing one of the most ambitious periods of growth in its history.
So, it isn’t like there is, well, you know, extra down time. But for this opportunity, Rhodes made time, spending three days last week at Ft. Knox, originally there to speak to U.S. Army ROTC cadets participating in Cadet Summer Training.
The university’s own ROTC cadets were at the summer training, joining thousands of fellow cadets from colleges and universities across the nation to test themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally as they prepare to become future Army officers.
Yet, somehow, there Rhodes stood. On a bright blue Friday afternoon, standing at the open door of an aircraft thousands of feet above the Kentucky countryside, preparing for a tandem jump from more than 10,000 feet off terra firma, he was tethered to Tyler, a member of the Army’s elite Golden Knights parachute team waiting for the cue to take the leap.
After the initial rush of freefall, the descent transitioned into a controlled glide above the rolling Kentucky landscape—a view experienced by surprisingly few university leaders.
But, as exhilarating as it was, the jump was just one part of the commitment.
Throughout Cadet Summer Training, Army ROTC cadets compete in leadership exercises, land navigation challenges, combat medic training, physical assessments, complex field practice and rappelling from a 60-foot tower in free-fall and wall descents. Rhodes did that, too – learning to master the challenging wall descent and the even more rigorous free descent where a well-placed hand in front and behind are the only two things between a safe descent and disaster. Maybe, he teases momentarily, it is an apt euphemism for what college and university presidents actually do.
Rhodes admits that the university ROTC program is near and dear, not just to him, but to many of the university’s 400+ employees. Since the program’s beginning, hundreds of previously noncommissioned U.S. Army men and women have become second lieutenants, and the majority are still serving to this day.
So, during his visit, Rhodes met with cadets representing 16 regiments across the country and spoke with them about leadership.
He also thanked U.S. Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox Commanding General Brig. Gen Sean Crockett and the Fort Knox leadership team for his hospitality and for providing an up-close look at one of the Army’s most important leadership development programs.
And, of course, the chance to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
