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Graduates in the first Yale ROTC class since reinstatement get their commissions.

Yale University

Yale University

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In Battell Chapel on Commencement Day, members of the Yale ROTC Class of 2016 (left) received their military commissions from a pretty reliable source: Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ’76. The class was the first in four decades to pursue ROTC training entirely at Yale. Four Yale graduatingseniors became second lieutenants in the US Air Force, along with three from the University of New Haven and one from Quinnipiac University. Ten Yale seniors became ensigns in the US Navy. “As leaders in the return of ROTC to this campus, you’ve helped bridge a divide that persisted for too long,” said Carter. “And in the process you’ve actually enhanced the education of your classmates as well as your own.”

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