What Can You Get at Liberty University and Not At Harvard?
Commissioned. As a Second Lieutenant. In the Army.
Ours.
Officer Commissioning, Liberty University, 2006
It’s been decades since I witnessed the swearing in of ROTC Cadets into the officer corps. (My own.) So Your Business Blogger packed up Charmaine and the Penta-Posse and headed south from DC to watch another. To Lynchburg, Virginia. Home of Jerry Falwell, Chancellor and President of Liberty University, and founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church. A 3,000 seat church with 22,000 members.
The ceremony is a solemn, emotional occasion. And they weren’t even my kids.
They now belong to all of us.
The oath of office goes,
I (insert name),
having been appointed a (insert rank) in the U.S. Army under the conditions indicated in this document,
do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic,
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely,
without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;
and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter,
so help me God.
So help me God. Which is why you will not see a commissioning at Harvard.
Jack and Charmaine
Thomas Road Baptist Church
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Thank you (foot)notes:
From the 33rd Baccalaureate May 12, 2006,
Today, Liberty University celebrates with the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) as we commission eleven Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. Army ROTC is a four-year program of study focusing on leadership, and the technical and tactical skills required to become a U.S. Army Officer….
In Liberty’s Corps of Cadets, there are graduates from the Airborne, Air Assault, Mountain Warfare Schools. Our Cadets have trained with the Special Forces, and with Army units in Korea….
Coincidentally, good Friends Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer received Honorary Doctorates. With Senator John McCain.
Open Post at Mudville Gazette.
Mudville has McCain quote.
“so help me God” is not part of the official oath, but is instead something that an oath taker may add if one wishes. Your post rather gives the impression that Harvard doesn’t have ROTC because of a faith connection, and that is simply inaccurate. The oath was never questioned (nor was it different) at Harvard.
Which is why you will not see a commissioning at Harvard…
Hmmm. This must have been a fluke then: Harvard ROTC Commissioning Ceremony 2006.