The ROTC held its annual Military Ball, welcoming present and former students to celebrate military involvement on Saturday.
ROTC prepares college students to become officers should they join a branch of the military, and the ball brought together cadets and veterans alike. In at least one case, within the same family.
Todd Lincoln, a physics sophomore and ROTC cadet, attended the ball with his parents, Brig. Gen. Pamela Lincoln and Col. Timothy Lincoln, an MSU alumnus.
“He has a lot of ambition, but he’s very quiet, very, very humble,” Pamela said. “This might be the first time, tonight, that anybody knows that his parents are in the military.”
With both his parents working and having met in the Air Force, Todd often grew up on military bases and moved with his parents.
Timothy Lincoln said life is tough for “military brats,” but it teaches them a certain strength of character.
“It’s really tough on them, but I think they make friends very easy, they’re very adaptive,” Timothy, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, said. “It also prepares them to be very much adjustable wherever they go.”
Todd said growing up in a military family influenced him to get involved with the military at some point and, after following in his father’s footsteps and attending MSU, he decided to join the Army ROTC.
“It was a win-win, I get to go where my dad went, on top of the fact that it’s a very good school for what I study,” he said.
Todd is currently deciding whether pursue a career in the U.S. Army or in physics.
“I’m proud of him,” Timothy said. “I think it’s a selfless sacrifice to serve in the military. It’s not something that everyone chooses to do, and certainly we didn’t push him that way. When he chose to do that, we were very proud of him.”
The ball was not only attended by cadets and their families. MSU Army ROTC alumni were also in attendance. Among them were Capt. Justin Brown, an MSU alumnus, and his wife Dr. Hong-Phuc “Hp” Brown, also an MSU alumna.
“It’s a big family,” Justin said.
Justin served as a helicopter pilot during tours in Iraq and Kuwait.
“It’s really good to have the invitation every year ... (I can relate) to other people that have gone through the same thing or are going through the same thing that I’ve gone through,” Justin Brown said. “It’s nice to talk to people with the same interests as I, who like to serve their country.”
The Browns met in 2006, when Justin stole Hong-Phuc’s seat in biochemistry class.
“It was one of the moments where I was in class, in uniform, I took her seat because she was good-looking,” Justin Brown said.
The pair dated for seven years, knowing Justin would continue to wear that uniform, getting engaged before Justin’s first deployment and married before his second.
“Of course I’m concerned, but ... he’s doing his job and I have to be there to support him,” Hong-Phuc, now a dentist, said.
While they think of each other often when he’s gone, Justin plans to redeploy in the future.
“Any time there’s a need for me to deploy, I think that’s my duty,” Justin said. “I am a soldier, that’s my job.”
