Three University of Minnesota Crookston graduates will not be wearing mortarboards this week. Instead, they will be wearing gold bars on their blue uniforms. Reserve Office Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets Douglas Jackson Jr., Chad Leisenring, and David Cathell will complete bachelor’s degree requirements at UMC on Wednesday, December 19. On Friday at 8:30 a.m., they will be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force at a ceremony in Clifford Hall at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.
Reserve Office Training
Corps (ROTC) Cadets Douglas Jackson Jr., Chad Leisenring, and David
Cathell (from left)
The cadets, all members of ROTC Detachment 610, have been attending UMC through an applied studies program. “We’ve all spent a year and a half at UMC,” Jackson said. “I know I speak for all of us when I say we have enjoyed the time we’ve spent in Crookston. I like the small town atmosphere and the school is relatively small. I particularly like how ROTC has been accepted.”
He said the ROTC program started at UMC, in cooperation with the University of North Dakota, in 1999 with two cadets. During the fall semester of 2001, 19 cadets were enrolled at UMC.
Douglas Jackson Jr.
Jackson will be moving to Minot, N.D., where he will be a personnel officer at the Air Force Base. He said he’s looking forward to getting back to active duty – he spent 7 ½ years in the Air Force before entering ROTC. “I was a military brat and my family moved around a lot. It’s the only life I’ve really known. When I was old enough I joined the Air Force,” he said.
Jackson, 29, is originally from Michigan. He is the son of Barbara Boomer of Michigan and Lt. Col. Douglas Jackson of Washington, D.C. “My dad works at the Pentagon,” Cadet Jackson said. “His office was in the area where the plane crashed on September 11.
“When I heard about it on the radio, at first I couldn’t believe it was happening. I didn’t know where Dad was that morning or even if he was alive,” he recalls. “I tried to call Washington, but all the phone lines were tied up.”
It wasn’t until about 2 o'clock that afternoon that a relative called Jackson and told him his father was all right. “Dad got in touch with someone out of the Washington area and they called the rest of the family. That morning Dad took my stepmother to a medical appointment so he wasn’t in the building,” Jackson said.
The attacks on America enforced Jackson’s belief in the Air Force mission to defend the United States and protect its interests through aerospace power. “Dad and I took it personally. We believe what our country is doing in Afghanistan is just and right. We can’t bring back all the innocent people killed on September 11, but we must strike back against the terrorists who committed these unbelievable attacks,” he said. “I don’t want my son to ever experience this kind of terror.”
Douglas and his wife, Sarah, are the parents of Douglas Jackson III, who is six years old. “We’ll have another child in May,” the proud father added.
“We’ve enjoyed the time we’ve lived in Crookston, but we’re looking forward to getting settled in Minot. We’re going to have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us.”
Jackson said the Air Force has been his chosen career path all along. “I have two goals. I want to serve as long as possible and my goal is out outrank my father before I retire.”
Chad Leisenring
Chad Leisenring, 28, is also packing up to leave Crookston this week. He will be a computer networking officer at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas. “In a way it will be like I’m going home, because I graduated from the Butler County Community College in Wichita with an Associate in Applied Science Degree. I was also stationed at McConnell when I was on active duty,” Leisenring said. He has already served ten years in the Air Force.
“I was looking into ROTC and heard about UMC while I was at McConnell,” he recalls. “I made a few phone calls. It sounded good and in the summer of 2000 I came to Crookston.”
Leisenring said he had no reservations about attending a small college in northwestern Minnesota. “Quite awhile back I had decided I wanted to be an officer and make the Air Force my career. I got a lot of encouragement from people, particularly my foster father, who kept telling me I could succeed,” he said. Chad is the son of Debbie Leisenring and foster parents Jim and Mary Lou Shannan, all of Fort Madison, Iowa.
During the time he has been attending UMC, Leisenring has been the senior resident advisor for McCall Hall dormitory. “It’s been quite an experience for me. I got to know and really like a lot of the kids over the past year and a half. I think it’s helped me understand how my attitude can influence others. It’s given me a real upbeat outlook on life. Hopefully, I’ve developed some real people skills.”
He said UMC has “great people and great instructors. I’ve gotten a great education here.”
As for the future, Leisenring said his goal is “to be happy in life and to succeed as an Air Force officer, providing a role model for others to follow.”
He admitted he has plans beyond active duty. “When I retire from active duty, it will be another beginning for me. I plan on pursuing some sort of human relations or computer oriented areas.”
David Cathell
For David Cathell, 28, ROTC has been an experience in civilian life. He enlisted in the Air Force immediately following his graduation from high school in Wellsville, Ohio. “I grew up in Wellsville – my mother still lives there – so the Air Force has been my home. I spent nine years in the service so the year and a half at UMC was the first time I experienced civilian life as an adult,” he said.
David is the son of Sally Paugh and the late David Cathell.
“UMC has been kind of a break for me,” Cathell said. “It’s a great school, the classes are small and the teachers are friendly. The people are nice in this community and this area in general.”
Following his commissioning, Cathell will be stationed at Vanenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif., where he will receive technical training for space and missile operations.
After that, Cathell said, he would like to be stationed in Minot. “I spent most of my enlistment there. My wife is from North Dakota and both of us like the area.” His wife, Leah, is from Jud, N.D. The couple has lived in Grand Forks while he as been going to UMC.
Cathell, who has an associate degree in mechanical technology from the Community College of the Air Force, said he felt ROTC was the most viable means for him to become an officer. He said his military experience and the management capabilities he developed as an enlisted man will stand him in good stead when he becomes an officer.
September 11 only strengthened his sense of purpose. “The attacks obviously changed the public’s attitude toward the military,” he said.
Looking to the future, Cathell intends to put in at least 20 years in the Air Force. “After that, I’ll do some evaluating and decide how much longer I’ll stay in,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in space technology, possibly with NASA. The opportunities in aerospace are always changing. Ten years down the line there may be areas we can’t even imagine today.”
The sky may not be the limit for all of the cadets, soon to be UMC graduates and U.S. Air Force officers.
Written by Twylla Altepeter for University Relations
Posted 12/19/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435