[Vision2020] Cadet's father sees him commission from Afghanistan

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the University of North Georgia at:

http://tinyurl.com/bjogk4y
  
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Cadet's father sees him commission from Afghanistan
For decades, commissioning ceremonies for cadets at the University of North Georgia have been attended by friends, family and mentors, who often take part in the ceremony. This spring, one cadet needed the help of modern technology to include his parents, both active duty members of the military.

Graduating UNG cadets who are entering active duty in the U.S. Army or Georgia National Guard are sworn in as second lieutenants during individual ceremonies held prior to commencement. 2LT Greg Rader's plans to include his parents in the ceremony seemed to be in jeopardy when his father, MSG Marshall Rader, was deployed to Afghanistan. UNG's Department of Information Technology coordinated a live video feed that allowed Rader's father and several colonels and generals to observe from the base in Afghanistan. MSG Rader also gave his son his first salute, a traditional part of commissioning that was a special moment for 2LT Rader.

"It was really important to me," said Rader, who's from Florida. "It just made me feel really good, because he's the non-commissioned officer in the family and it made me feel special."

His mother, MAJ Jennifer Lynn Rader, a U.S. Army logistics officer, handled swearing-in duties for her oldest child. Like his mother, Rader is going into the Army’s transportation corps.

"I was supremely happy that he decided to follow in our footsteps, because he is our fourth generation," said MAJ Rader, who currently is attending Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the U.S. Army's graduate school. "He is our future and I couldn't be prouder."

Rader earned his bachelor's degree in political science in commencement exercises held Friday, May 10 in Memorial Hall Gym on the Dahlonega campus. After his wedding this summer and additional Army training, Rader expects to report to Virginia, his first duty station, this December.

One of Rader's fellow cadets, who also commissioned as a second lieutenant on Friday, will be traveling quite a bit farther for his first duty station. 2LT Theron Hollar, one of three spring 2013 graduates awarded the university's new bachelor's degree in modern languages with a concentration in Chinese, will be going to South Korea.

"I actually requested Korea, because there's not really anywhere for me to get stationed in China as a second lieutenant, though I could maybe one day get to Taiwan or maybe at an embassy in China. I figured the best way for me to keep up my language skills would be to go to a country in that region," said Hollar, who's from North Carolina. He's not worried about the recent saber-rattling by North Korea.

Hollar hopes one day to combine the language skills learned at UNG with the logistics skills he expects to learn in the transportation corps, but he's already gained an appreciation for his time as a cadet.

"I'm starting to move away from college life, and I appreciate the corps and who it helped me become and I appreciate the things that, at the time, I wasn't really too happy about doing," he said.

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During his commissioning ceremony, 2nd. Lt. Greg Rader received a ceremonial first salute from his father, Master Sgt. Marshall Rader, who is deployed to Afghanistan. Rader was sworn in by his mother, Maj. Jennifer Lynn Rader, becoming the fourth generation in his family to join the military.



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Seeya at the Wingding, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still 
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill 
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
 

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