Two graduating seniors received their military commissions on Saturday as second lieutenants in the Army in a ceremony at Loew Auditorium attended by friends, family, and colleagues.
Anne-Sarah Nichitiu ’26, a neuroscience major from Winhall, Vt., will commission into the Army Medical Department, attending the Uniformed Services School of Medicine in Maryland.
Cooper Hyldahl ’26, an economics and history major from Wilmington, N.C., will commission into the 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion in Maryland.
Lisa Baldez, a professor of government at Dartmouth and the mother of Marine aviator Joe Carey ’15, opened the ceremony, telling both Hyldahl and Nichitiu that she was confident they would have the judgment to meet the challenges that will confront them. Their Dartmouth education has prepared them to serve in ways they could not yet imagine, said Baldez.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Wade, professor of military science, introduced the reading of the commissioning warrants and the administration of the oath of office. Capt. Jacob Rozak administered the oath to both Nichitiu and Hyldahl.
Hyldahl’s mother, Aysha Ault, and sister, Aubrey Hyldahl, pinned the second lieutenant’s bars on his uniform. Nichitiu’s parents, Andreea Dragut and Codrin Nichitiu, performed the same honor for their daughter.
Both Hyldahl and Nichitiu exchanged their first salutes as second lieutenants with retired Sgt. John Goodell, a veteran of the Vietnam War.
In giving the main address at the commissioning cemetery, Jake Tapper ’91, CNN’s lead Washington anchor and a member of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, recalled the influence of the late President Emeritus James Wright, a Marine veteran who advocated for veterans’ causes throughout his life.
As a journalist, Tapper spoke to the audience about the importance of reporting on the lives of veterans, not only those killed or wounded in combat but also those who champion for their fellow soldiers in myriad ways. Tapper reminded the audience that there is another category of soldiers: those who re-enter civilian life with PTSD, and do not always survive.
“Sometimes the battle, the wounds of battle, are not visible,” Tapper said.
Tapper asked rhetorically what advice he—who had not served in the military—would give the two second lieutenants, “who already have demonstrated so much in terms of their academic excellence, in terms of their athletic excellence, in terms of their selflessness and their sacrifice?”
“Please be forgiving of yourselves, accept the fact that you’re human and that you make mistakes, that you’re not infallible. Be as honorable with yourselves as you are to us,” Tapper said.
Twenty-six undergraduates, along with three external cadets, participated in ROTC at Dartmouth this year. Sixteen veterans were pursuing undergraduate degrees; more than 60 graduate and professional school students were veterans.
President Sian Leah Beilock has pledged to double the number of undergraduate veterans on campus, and Morgan Ogreen, an assistant dean and former Navy helicopter pilot, was recently named to the newly created role of director of the Office of Military and Veteran Support in Community and Campus Life.
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Watch a video of the ceremony.