UWs Air Force ROTC Receives Regional Honors

The University of Wyoming’s Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) Detachment 940 was recently named the best small detachment in the Northwest Region for the 2016-17 academic year.

The detachment’s cadre also was selected as the Northwest Region’s team of the third quarter of 2017.

The Northwest Region consists of 34 detachments in 18 states, including Colorado, Illinois, Missouri and Washington.

Detachment 940 was selected for the regional honor based on achievements in five assessment categories: production, education, recruiting and retention, university and public relations, and cadet activities. Its cadre -- three commissioned officers and two noncommissioned officers -- received the team award based on efforts in three areas: process and/or accomplishment, impact and results, and sustainment and standardization.

“The best small detachment award for the Northwest Region speaks highly of the relationship UW has fostered with the Air Force ROTC program,” says Lt. Col. Samuel Shearer, Detachment 940 commander. “The leadership at UW has been extremely supportive of our efforts. I can’t imagine a better working relationship anywhere else in the country.”

Notable achievements from the 2016-17 academic year include:

-- The detachment’s technology use in the classroom was identified as a best practice for other detachments to model.

 -- Detachment 940 developed a new four-year AFROTC curriculum that should be instituted nationwide during the 2018-19 academic year.

-- The detachment grew from the smallest detachment in the nation (145 detachments total) to the 28th smallest.

-- Detachment 940 collaborated with UW President Laurie Nichols and UW Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Anne Alexander to create a UW one-year scholarship to recruit out-of-state ROTC scholarship recipients. An Air Force ROTC Type 7 scholarship covers the cost of in-state tuition. If an out-of-state, four-year scholarship recipient enrolls at UW, the Air Force reduces the scholarship to a three-year award. The new UW scholarship provides a fourth year of funding. Six out-of-state scholarship recipients chose to attend UW, compared to only one from the previous year.

-- One UW cadet of five cadets nationwide was selected to represent AFROTC at the Uruguayan Air Force Academy’s 100th anniversary celebration.

-- One UW cadet of 12 cadets nationwide was chosen to help train cadets reporting to the Air Force Academy’s Prep School. This was the first time that ROTC cadets were allowed to be a part of the training.

Currently, 42 cadets are in the UW program. Shearer says he would like to see that number nearly double by the fall.

“Our goal is to have 80 cadets by the start of the fall 2018 semester,” Shearer says. “With UW’s help, we are confident we will make it.”

For more information about UW’s AFROTC, visit www.uwyo.edu/airrotc.

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