ROTC Cadet lands contract with U.S. Army

Guethshina Altena/ Assistant News Director

Jose Luis Alvarez-Crespo is a senior criminal justice major with a minor in psychology and a certificate in national security studies. Given his interest in becoming a military officer, he went from student athlete in high school to Cadet after joining the Reserve Officers’  Training Corps program.

Alvarez-Crespo enrolled in the University’s ROTC program in Fall 2014.  

Alvarez-Crespo attended the Cadet Troop Leader Training at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas with a troop, the 7th Squadron,17th Cavalry Regiment H-ARS, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade.

“I was an acting platoon leader at Fort Hood… and what’s good about that is it sets you off for success in the future,” Alvarez-Crespo said. “Obviously, I am gonna be in that position when I graduate and I got a chance to see where my strength and weaknesses are and how I can improve.”

Alvarez-Crespo volunteered at “Basic Camp” for basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky during the summer of 2015. He was contracted as a Cadet during the fall semester of 2015 and received a three year scholarship. In the summer of 2016, Alvarez-Crespo was selected for a Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency mission to Malawi, Africa.

“The goal of this program is to build leaders that are culturally aware and have cross culture communication,” he said.

The program was a military to military mission where he was given the opportunity to work with the Malawi Defence Force day in and day out, he said.

“It was a cultural program and the whole time we were there, we immerse into their culture. We ate their foods, and everything was South african cuisine and [traditions],” he said.

Alvarez-Crespo said they lived in a compound and were surrounded by a bunch of villages and visited the villagers a couple of times. Children from the village would come and they would play soccer with them.

The following summer of 2017, Alvarez-Crespo attended Advance Camp at Fort Knox. In a garrison and field environment, he managed to finish in the top 15 percent of his platoon.

“Being a mentor [to younger participants in ROTC] now as an MS4, I have to be someone that they can resemble… I wanna make sure to set the standards for the future because once we leave they will be the ones to take over,” he said.

In his path to join the military, Alvarez-Crespo said he lived by the motto: “Be on time, in the right place and with the right uniform.”

“[Being part of ROTC] is rewarding. It is rewarding in different ways. You are part of a family and not only are you growing personally but you are also growing professionally,” he said.

The leadership skills gained in ROTC are valuable, according to Alvarez-Crespo. Even those who don’t graduate from the program end up doing remarkable things in their lives. Many Fortune 500 individuals and the current Walmart CEO were once part of ROTC, he said.

Alvarez-Crespo recently landed a five year contract to join the army after graduation because of his high performance in the ROTC program. He encourages other students who are interested to join to better prepare in serving their country.

For more information about ROTC, contact the ROTC office at (305) 348-1619 or visit their office at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus building W10A.

 

Featured photo courtesy of Flickr.