ROTC cadet given award
Waters receives Legion of Valor Bronze Cross award
By Eric Rineer
Staff writer
Despite receiving one of the top
awards in the country for an Air Force
ROTC cadet, Rich Waters likes to keep
things modest.
Waters, a cadet wing commander
for the University of Nebraska
Lincoln Air Force ROTC, was recently
given the Legion of Valor Bronze
Cross for Achievement award - the
second .highest award nationally - by
the Chapel Hill ROTC headquarters in
North Carolina.
“I think there were at least 50 other
people who could have gotten the
award instead of me,” said Waters, a
senior electrical engineering major.
The award, given annually to four
cadets nationwide, requires a letter of
recommendation from an Air Force
officer.
Each of the 450 Air Force ROTC
detachments selects one cadet to pos
sibly win the award.
The Chapel Hill headquarters then
considers each cadet’s leadership qual
ities. Cadets also must be in the top 10
percent of their ROTC and university
department classes.
Waters, who boasts a 3.9 GPA in
the engineering college, said the award
came to him as a surprise when his co
cadets and commanders presented it to
him at their weekly leadership class.
“I was totally flabbergasted when
they announced it,” he said. “I was
pretty shocked and pretty proud, but
then again, it’s only a piece of metal.”
That piece of metal, said Major
Michael Tumipseed, is every cadets’
dream come true.
The only medal higher, he said,
requires a heroic act, such as saving
another cadet’s life.
Tumipseed said Waters deserved
the Legion of Valor award.
“In the short time that I’ve known
Mr. Waters, he takes his dedication to
the military and the Air Force very
seriously,” he said.
Todd Bode, a cadet captain and
senior business major, said giving
Waters the award was a class act.
“He was kind of downplaying the
award before,” Bode said. “That’s just
typical of himself. He’s appreciative of
the award, but he knows there’s more
out there.”
Waters, who eventually wants to
become a pilot, wasn’t always sure he
would join the Air Force ROTC.
As a Millard North high school
senior in Omaha, Waters applied for
scholarships in each of the major mili
tary organizations.
Waters never counted on the Air
Force being the one to give him a
scholarship.
“I guess it was kind of luck that
everything fell into place like it did,”
he said.
Waters’ work ethic and study
habits at Millard North made it a bit
easier for him to excel in his ROTC
unit, he said.
Lifting weights with Millard
North athletes, such as NU quarter
back Eric Crouch, has helped him pre
pare for the ROTC’s physical training
demands, Waters said.
Physical fitness abilities are also
taken into account by ROTC comman
ders before recommending a cadet for
the Legion of Valor award.
Maybe the largest player in help
ing him receive the award, Waters said,
was the field training that every cadet
goes through during his or her sopho
more years.
The field-training exercise lasts 4
5 weeks and includes drills and cere
monies. Cadets go through a confi
dence course and fire a 9-mm hand
gun during small-arms training.
“If you’re willing to pay any price
to achieve your goal, anybody can
accomplish their goal,” Waters said.
A big reason for Waters’ winning
the award, said Steve Ohlmeyer, a
cadet lieutenant colonel and senior
criminal justice major, was his
unselfish attitude.
“He’s reliable and dependable, and
I trust him to get any job done,”
Ohlmeyer said.
Officials say safe Gaza route to open soon
JERUSALEM (AP) - A safe pas
sage route for Palestinian travel between
,Gaza and the West Bank was expected
to open in a week, Palestinian and Israeli
officials said Sunday.
The 27-mile passage, allowing
thousands of Palestinians to visit each
other, would be the most substantive
result of the peace process revived last
month by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat.
Palestinian Civilian Affairs Minister
Jamil Tarifi said Sunday that there was
only one minor detail - the location of
liaison offices - to be resolved.
“The route will open on October
17,” Tarifi told The Associated Press.
The spokesman for the Israeli
army’s coordinator of activities in the
territories, Shlomo Dror, agreed that the
passage could open as early as Sunday,
saying the sides needed to work out
“technical details.”
The Palestinian Authority will pub
licize details on the application process
for permits to use the route in coming
days, Tarifi said.
The safe passage was outlined in the
peace agreement signed last month
between Israel and the Palestinians in
the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
That accord marked a resumption of the
peace process after it was frozen for
much of the three-year rule of Barak’s
predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a further sign the agreement was
being implemented, the Israeli army has
begun evacuating bases in the West
Bank to prepare for the next withdrawal
in November allowing the expansion of
Palestinian self-rule.
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