Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, will pay a brief visit on Wednesday while Tech alumni Maj. Gen. Edward F. Dorman III and Colonel Marcus Evans will be on campus Tuesday and Wednesday.
It s unprecedented for the Vice Chief of Staff to be here, said Lt. Col. Stephen Peterson, professor of military science and director of Tech s ROTC program. He only gets out of (Washington) D.C. a half a dozen times a year. We got really lucky.
Allyn, who is the second in command in the U.S. Army, will be at Cookeville High from 9-9:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. He will then come to campus and meet with President Phil Oldham and Provost Bahman Ghorashi, and tour Tech s Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center from 9:30-10:15 a.m. He will then meet with Tech ROTC cadets and have a question and answer session from 10:15-10:45 a.m. He is going to meet crossfit guru Rich Froning on his way to the airport between 11-11:30 a.m.
He oversees almost a trillion dollar budget and just over a million people, so it s kind of a big deal for him to be here, Peterson said. We are going to gain a whole lot from his presence as well as Gen. Dorman s the day before.
Dorman is a native of Cookeville and a 1983 distinguished military graduate of Tech where he received his commission. He is currently the Director, J-4, U.S. Central Command. He has commanded at all levels, from platoon through division, and served in staff assignments at the battalion through Army and Joint Staff level.
Dorman is expected to arrive on Tuesday and his itinerary includes a public lecture on leadership at 4 p.m. in Derryberry Hall.
I want our cadets to get a perspective of what it means to lead in the unknown and unknowable, Peterson said. That s really the future we have to plan for going out in the military. We have to be agile and innovative and be dynamic at the same time.
Evans is putting together a dynamic military career. In 2015, he was named the commanding officer of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Benning, Ga.
Evans received his commission in the infantry through Tech s ROTC program, graduating in 1994 with a bachelor s of science degree in secondary education. A linebacker and special teams standout from 1990-93 on the Golden Eagle football team, Evans was listed on the Athletics Director s Honor Roll 10 times. He will also be speaking to cadets and involved in Allyn and Dorman s visit.
I m excited about the leadership development of our cadets with the visits of General Allyn, General Dorman and Colonel Evans, Peterson said. It s nice to have officers from our ROTC program come back to campus and speak to the cadets.
For more information on Tech s ROTC program, visit the website at https://www.tntech.edu/armyrotc.
