Given the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, some people might be surprised to find college graduates choosing military careers. Scott Finks’ decision to join the U.S. Army became a historical moment in the University’s history when he became the first ROTC commissioned officer to graduate from the Mocs Battalion.
Major Ben Smith, commander of the Mocs Battalion, conducted Finks’ commissioning ceremony on Saturday, May 2nd at Point Park on Lookout Mountain. Finks graduated with an economics degree on Sunday, May 3rd.
The Mocs Battalion was established in 2007. In 1997, the Reserve Officer Training Corps was closed by the U.S. Army after being on the UTC campus for 27 years.
Finks asked his father, Roger Finks of Delaware, Ohio, and his grandmother, Jean Manning of Ooltewah, Tennessee, to participate in the ceremony by pinning his lieutenant’s bars to his uniform. He will receive a proclamation from the President of the United States appointing him as a second lieutenant. It will be signed by the Secretary of the Army.
