Fort Sill education fair shows Soldiers, civilians schooling opportunities

FORT SILL, Okla. (Dec. 5, 2013) -- Despite temperatures in the teens and slippery roads, Soldiers braved the weather to browse opportunities offered at an education fair Nov. 22 at Truman Education Center here.

Pfc. Nkasiobichinyere Nlemchukwu, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery, is new to the Army but already looking into his future.

"I want to take advantage of every benefit that is offered to me," he said.

Michael Dodds, education services specialist, explained that Fort Sill offers a lot of educational programs and services for Soldiers, their family members and Army civilians.

"We want them to come to the education center to discover what is being offered and use those programs to enhance their quality of life," Dodds said. "A large percentage of Soldiers at Fort Sill are enrolled in one course or another. We have Soldiers who are pursuing associates degrees, bachelor's degrees and even masters level degrees."

A dozen different educational institutions provide instruction at Fort Sill. Each program offers classroom instruction on post at the Truman Center, as well as online instruction.

Schools with undergraduate programs were Upper Iowa University, Central Texas and Columbia colleges.

Schools with undergraduate and graduate programs were Webster and Wayland Baptist and Cameron universities, and the University of Oklahoma.

American Military University, which offers classes that are completely taught online was also represented. Great Plains Technology Center in Lawton, and Cameron University ROTC were represented as well.

Spcs. Trent Boyer and Christopher England, both with the 168th Brigade Support Battalion, came to the education fair to find out what was available.

"My goal today was to check out the ROTC program at Cameron University. I was talking with Lieutenant Calderon, ROTC recruiter at Cameron, and he gave me some valuable information. Right now I don't know what I am trying to do in the military, whether I want to become an NCO, an officer or what," Boyer said. "I'm submitting my packet to go into the warrant officer program.

Even if none of the other options open up for me, I might as well check out what some of the colleges have to offer and plan out my future that way. Even if I don't want to stay in, I can have a path for the future."

England agreed with his buddy Boyer that checking out educational opportunities at Fort Sill was a good idea.

"I need to think about the future. I wanted to talk to the ROTC representative at Cameron to see what it would take to become an officer," England said. "I'm interested in computer sciences and engineering. I've taken one English class here on post through Upper Iowa University, and it was a good experience. Now, I'm looking at other classes."

2nd Lt. Jan Paul Calderon is the assistant ROTC recruiting officer at Cameron. He spoke to Boyer, England and others about what they wanted from an education and what programs they were interested in pursuing.

"I asked them if they knew about the ROTC "Green-to-Gold" option, and they said they heard of it. So I explained to them that they have to complete two years of college courses to be eligible and can complete their last two years while in ROTC," Calderon said.

"Soldiers will take advantage of the opportunities when they see them, but we have to be proactive to get the information out in front of them. Having any kind of degree or education will point you in the right directions and this education fair is a great way to provide this for the Soldiers," he added.