Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Bethany Anderson | Texas Guardsmen and newly commissioned second lieutenants from the Officer Candidate...... read more read more
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AUSTIN, Texas (August 22, 2020) -- Candidates from the Texas Officer Candidate School Class 063 graduated Saturday morning, August 22, 2020, at Camp Mabry.
Col. Paul A. Cerniauskas, commander of the 136th Regiment, Regional Training Institute, spoke to the 18 newly commissioned 2nd lieutenants in the Audie Murphy Hall while adhering to social distancing and face covering protocols.
“Getting to this point has truly been a unique effort,” Cerniauskas said. “Driving to the solution to keep this class on track and graduate this class, given all these COVID-19 virus restrictions.”
OCS Class 063’s 20 month long journey to becoming Army officers began last January with packet submissions.
“My father went through federal OCS, my sister went through ROTC, and here I am with the state program. It’s, in a way, a family tradition,” said 2nd Lt. Gunner Colantoni, an officer candidate among class 063, assigned to B company, 2nd Battalion of the 136th Regiment’s Regional Training Institute, the Texas Army National Guard.
“I wanted to become an officer to extend my influence in a greater sphere,” Colantoni said. “I really wanted to be in a place where I could make a difference.”
The school’s multi-phase approach put each candidate's abilities to the test, academically and physically. Exercises included individual weapon qualifications and group tactical training events within an urban environment. The newly commissioned 2nd lieutenants will continue on to the next chapter of their Army careers. From combat arms to service support, they will serve in various branches and leadership roles throughout the Texas Army National Guard.
“My biggest take-away from OCS is the decisions you make and the actions you take in a leadership position have a much greater consequence and effect than you would initially think,” Colantoni said. “It can go down all the way to the lowest level, and you have to think about the lowest level in making decisions.”
Candidates built relationships with the cadre and amongst each other during their time spent preparing themselves to become commissioned officers.
“I realize everything we’ve done as a class, we did together,” said 2nd Lt. Matthew Wallace, Class 063 Distinguished Honor Graduate, assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 136th Regiment, Regional Training Institute, Texas Army National Guard. “We learned really quickly that if we don't do things as a team, things aren't going to go really well.”
“It's a bigger deal to go through OCS and know you have candidates to your right and left going through the exact same hardship you are,” Colantoni said “They're going to be there, able to pull you through and in turn, you're going to pull them through.”
The final phase culminated at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington.
“With the help of our platoon trainers and instructors, we improved, and things started to make sense,” Wallace said. “By the time we went to Washington, we had all the tools we needed to be successful.”
Wallace received inspiration for the future from OCS cadre following a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter ride.
“The Texas National Guard has such an incredible amount of opportunities,” Wallace said. “We want to encourage our Soldiers to take advantage of them. We want to create meaningful and engaging training for our Soldiers as well.”
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2020 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 376854 |
| Location: | AUSTIN, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 536 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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