Yesterday, U.S. Army Cadet Command cased the colors of 1st “Spartan” Brigade at the Patton Museum on Fort Knox, Kentucky. Since its inception, the Spartan Brigade, headquartered at Fort Knox, has managed the development of ROTC cadets at USACC’s six Senior Military Colleges and four Military Junior Colleges.
The casing of the colors was a ceremonial event honoring the soldiers, civilians, and families that contributed to the Spartan Brigade’s mission. After a presentation of flowers and challenge coins to the brigade command team’s families, the colors were cased by Brig. Gen. Sean Crocket, commanding general of USACC, Col. Joel P. Gleason, commander of the Spartan Brigade, and Command Sgt. Maj. Adin Salkanovic, command sergeant major of the Spartan Brigade.
“While casing the colors of a brigade is never easy, we do it because the Army must remain agile,” Crockett said. “Change is inevitable and the brigade may be inactivated, but our mission continues.”
The Spartan Brigade was formed as a part of USACC’s 2008 reorganization and modernization in which the ROTC detachments were split into seven regional brigades and an additional brigade to specifically oversee the military colleges. The decision to inactivate the brigade came in June of last year to align the military colleges with USACC’s regional brigades.
“The true measure of our success is not found in the numbers we commissioned this year but in the quality of the company commanders, battalion commanders, and strategic leaders our nation will rely on 20 or 30 years from now,” Gleason said.
In its 18 years the Spartan Brigade commissioned 11,117 second lieutenants. During the reorganization more than 5,000 cadets and 300 cadre members were reassigned to the brigades in which they geographically lie.
“Our currency was trust and our final product was world class leaders,” Salkanovic said. “We built this team by putting the right people in the right place and empowering them to excel. We fought very hard to not only give the right talent, but to retain that talent.”
For Gleason this transition not only served as a reminder of USACC’s overall mission to commission second lieutenants for the future of our Army, but also represented an old story passed down through Oxford University. He admitted to those in attendance that every day he keeps an acorn in his pocket.
“Acorns are a symbol of legacy. Investing in the future we might not see,” he said.
He explained how in the last century, one of Oxford’s historic buildings needed renovation that would require a large quantity of sturdy lumber. It was then revealed to the staff that the foresters on campus had been cultivating a stand of trees for this occasion since the 14th century.
“We didn’t just recruit cadets; we took on the scared responsibility of nurturing them,” Gleason said. “We cultivated their character, we strengthened their resilience, we shaped them into the leaders our Army will need to build the future. Like those foresters, our work here was a long term investment.”
All 10 programs formally under the Spartan Brigade remain open and will continue to produce Army officers.
“As we case these colors today, do not view this as an end, Gleason said. “Know that our forest stands tall and strong spread across the globe. The spirit of the Spartan Brigade lives on in the thousands of leaders, who we grew, who are out there right now providing shelter, strength, and victory for our Army.”
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