Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Air Force ROTC cadets at Mississippi State soon begin another semester supervising the military branch’s national student community service operations.

Earlier this year, the university’s Detachment 425 defeated a University of Tennessee, Knoxville peer organization in competition to become national headquarters for the Arnold Air Society. The prestigious designation is a first in AFROTC’s seven-decade history on the Starkville campus.

Being named AAS headquarters is “an incredible honor and distinction,” said senior Courtney J. Conway, a mathematics major from Oxford and the detachment’s current cadet leader. She added that MSU’s selection at the society’s spring general assembly is proof “that our program is viewed as top-notch by other universities.

“Receiving this distinction is important because it shows our program not only produces quality leaders, but we also set our expectations high in helping the Starkville community,” Conway said.

A memorial to legendary WWII general Henry H. “Hap” Arnold (1886-1950), the society is a professional honorary that, with its Silver Wings sister organization, works to support American aerospace power by providing leadership for various projects benefitting local populations. A highly selective body, its more than 2,800 members are part of 130 squadrons spread over nearly a dozen geographical areas.

Detachment 425 is led by Lt. Col. James Cassidy, who also holds the academic rank of professor of aerospace studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

He said the MSU headquarters team is steering AAS’s national effort to complete 83,000 projected community-service hours during the school year.

“Hard work and dedication” by both current and recently graduated members “projected a level of confidence which resulted in our squadron being elected by all others nationwide for the high honor of national headquarters,” Cassidy emphasized.

Conway explained that AAS members at MSU are responsible for “mentoring and managing the respective-area staff members to ensure their initiatives are implemented at each squadron.” She said AAS and Silver Wings members work closely together, most recently providing assistance to military veterans, helping feed the hungry and promoting STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—education, among other efforts. Prevention of human trafficking is this year’s joint national project.

Gaining an AAS HQ designation is the second major achievement in as many years for AFROTC at Mississippi State. In 2016, the detachment topped more than 140 other campus units to win the overall Team Excellence Award—for which it became eligible after being named No. 1 in the training corps’ southwest region, a 10-state area stretching from Tennessee to California. Details on that are found at www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2017/01/msu-air-force-rotc-takes-top-national-honor.

Like its Army counterpart, AFROTC enables fulltime students to become military officers while completing higher education degrees. Mississippi University for Women and East Mississippi Community College students also are eligible to join the MSU detachment if all requirements are met.

The land-grant institution established Army ROTC in 1917 to help meet a growing demand for officers during World War I. As air power became a major World War II component, then-Mississippi State College became a participant in the new Army Air Forces Training Program. For a complete detachment history and other information, visit www.afrotc.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.