Scroll down for page content.
The Honorable James R. Jones, Class of 1961
"I was very impressed with the cadets I met at OU during my recent visit. It is much different from the OU Army ROTC that so influenced my life through my graduation in 1961. Obviously there are many fewer cadets now than when I was at OU. In my day, there was a general motivation that serving in the military was an obligation of democracy, but most of us didn't look upon the Army as a career. The young cadets I met last month seem motivated not only to duty but to career as well.
I was commissioned in 1961 as a second lieutenant of the Counterintelligence Corps then postponed active duty while I attended law school at Georgetown and worked for a congressman from Oklahoma. During that time, I served in an Army Reserve unit on Capitol Hill headed by then-General Strom Thurmond. After receiving my law degree, I reported to Fort Benning for basic training, and I then went to Fort Holibird in Baltimore for Counterintelligence Corps training. With my next orders I found myself reporting to the White House to serve on the staff of President Lyndon B. Johnson for the remainder of my time on active duty. I finished as a Captain.
Military leadership training serves one well throughout life. I found myself calling on experiences in the Army in many of my civilian pursuits, whether as a Member of Congress, a US Ambassador to Mexico, or head of the American Stock Exchange in New York. So keep up the good work and keep the OU Army ROTC program performing on the high level it does now."
