UNC alumnus honored for ROTC advocacy

Lt. Col. Richard Martin was almost not an alumnus of UNC.

“I came in February of my freshman year and decided to do ROTC,” he said.

“I really kind of dug it and thought it was cool. It was kind of a saving grace to me because I was on the verge of failing out. By the time I came back for my sophomore year, I was pretty energized by the whole thing.”

In October, Martin was presented with the General Alumni Association’s Distinguished Young Alumni award for his advocacy that led to the creation of the UNC Tar Heel Battalion Army ROTC program in the 1990s.

The award recognized his many accomplishments, including graduating at the top of his class in the United States Army Command and General Staff College.

For students in the Army ROTC program, his most notable success was helping inspire the official program on campus.

Martin said during his freshman year, ROTC students would have one academic class a week and then travel off campus to train.

“For the Thursday afternoon, in-the-woods kind of stuff, we all traveled over to Duke University,” he said.

The program has grown since his time, but Daniel Knott, professor of military science, said the mission has always been the same, even when the thought process of how to accomplish that mission has changed.

“What my mission is to do now is to commission leaders who will thrive and excel in chaos,” Knott said.

Martin’s excitement about ROTC was what led him to pursue new opportunities for the program.

“By the time I rolled into my junior year, I was trying to start a couple things on campus at Carolina,” Martin said. “I was actively trying to get other students like me, that I had a lot in common with and try to convince them to do what we do.”

The impact included sights current UNC students are now used to seeing, such as the traditional presentation of the colors and Veterans Day celebration in Polk Place.

Martin said he is proud of the history UNC has training officers and leaders in the Army and Navy.

Master Sgt. Nicholas Barnes, senior military instructor, said he felt lucky to be working with UNC’s quality cadets.

“I’d been at Fort Bragg since 2008 and had three deployments in a row, so it was time for me to take a break,” Barnes said. “I lucked out with it.”

The cadets in the program today continue to honor their predecessors, Knott said.

“We do physical training every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 6 to 7:30, and they all come,” Knott said. “They were there (Thursday) in Halloween costumes.”

Martin said despite everything he accomplished, his time at UNC was not easy.

“Honestly, I had to work for it,” he said. “I had to work my tail off to get to be in the army. I learned that you can fail, but you are not a failure. I think I got that from my experience at Carolina.”

university@dailytarheel.com