MSgt. Vincent New ROTC Instructor
After a month on the job, MSgt. Richard a. Vincent, U.S. Air Force retired, is settling into his job as the new Air Force Junior ROTC instructor for Scott High and Oneida High Schools.
Vincent, a native of Miami, Florida, has been retired from the military for the past two years. He is married and the father of two sons and two daughters and is about to become a grandfather at the age of 45.
Except for a brief tour of duty overseas, where he met and married his wife, Vincent spent most of his 20-year careeer in the Air Force stateside as a recruiter.
"I had assignments in Florida, Idaho, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas," Vincent said.
"I met my wife (Faye) while I was serving in Turkey. She was an Air Force nurse - an officer, so we broke the rules and got married. Two years later she got out of the service."
And although he hails from the "big city," he says he loves the small town environment, having spent most of his growing-up summers on his grandfather's farm in Kentucky.
Vincent said of the 20 or so openings across the country for a Jr. ROTC instructor, he chose Scott County because it was "almost exactly halfway between family members in Kentucky and north Georgia."
Vincent is currently residing in a rental house near Oneida High School, and said he would be moving his wife and daughter to their new home this week.
His oldest son is married, in the Air Force in California, and he and his wife are expecting a baby, Vincent said. His youngest son is a student at the University of Texas, and his oldest daughter is out of school and on her own.
"We'll only be bringing one of our children to Oneida - our youngest daughter, who will be in the eighth grade at Oneida Middle School," he said.
Despite the fact that this is his first Jr. ROTC job, Vincent said things have been going smoothly thanks to the efforts of fellow instructor Lt. Col. Skip Tendall, USAF Ret.
"Everything is going great," Vincent said in a Monday afternoon interview in his office at the ROTC Center in Helenwood. "We've got about 80 kids, evenly split between Oneida and Scott High, and we have four classes a day."
He said both the color gaurd and the drill team have been practicing after school (on Thursdays) and will be traveling to Georgia this month to see drill teams and color guards in competition.
"Just to get us ready to compete in our first-ever competition in Alabama in February," Vincent said.
In addition to the classes and drilling (on a drill pad behind the ROTC Center), Vincent says the ROTC cadets are also volunteering their time and talents to help make improvements to the building.
"We've got a flag pole ordered. We'll soon be painting the front of the building, and we're also getting ready to paint a second classroom," he said.
Other planned improvements to the ROTC Center will include new tile floors (to replace carpet), and ("hopefully") paving the drill pad, Vincent said.
And, he added, the Jr. ROTC color guard will be making a few public appearances as the school year progresses.
"We had the color guard at the Scott High homecoming game on Friday, and I believe they're scheduled to be at the Oneida homecoming this week," Vincent said.
"The only problem we have right now is transportation for after-school activities. There are some kids who would like to be here, to be involved in the drill team and color guard, but they have no way home," he said.
The Jr. ROTC program, which serves studnts in both local high schools, is a three-year program and open to freshmen through seniors. Now in its second year, Vincent estimates that about half of the students in the program are entering the second year of the program.
Vincent said the program training combined with what the cadets are learning about military history and traditions will benefit each participant, whether the students plant to go to college or enter the military service.
Those who complete the Jr. ROTC program (all three years) and choose to enter any branch of military service following graduation from high school, will do so at a higher rank than those who have ROTC training, Vincent said. "All they have to do is obtain a certificate showing they completed the program," he said.
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