2009 Spring Commencement




ROTC Graduate Takes Up the Family Business of Serving the Nation

By Bill Wyatt, JMU Public Affairs

Having raised a family of three children in 11 different houses on nine different military installations, retired Army Col. Stan Preczewski was surprised to hear that his youngest son, David, was interested in pursuing a military career.

"We always encouraged [our children] not actually to go into the military," the elder Preczewski said. "We just encouraged them to be good citizens and to give back to their country."

Preczewski administered the oath of office to his youngest son on Saturday, May 9, in conjunction with James Madison University's commencement ceremonies. What makes this so special is all three of Preczewski's children have followed in his footsteps as Army officers.

David Preczewski is the newest in the cadre of Preczewski lieutenants. David's older brother Michael is a first lieutenant stationed in Iraq and his sister, Kristen, is a paratrooper stationed in Germany. Both were granted leave to attend their brother's graduation and commissioning. It was the first time the family had been together in more than two years.

David first explored the idea of military service in high school as a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.

"Military service definitely wasn't pressured on me by any means from my family. It wasn't anything my dad encouraged me to do. It was definitely just a passion for service."

Even though David spent part of his high-school career at a school near the United States Military Academy where his father was stationed, David chose to receive his military training through JMU's ROTC program.

"JMU's ROTC is one of the top battalions in the nation. When I was researching ROTC programs in 2005, JMU had just received the General MacArthur Award," Preczewski said. The award is given to the best ROTC battalion based on academics, leadership and physical conditioning, as well as the collective scores of cadets in various training programs.

Though he chose JMU for its ROTC reputation, Preczewski says his Madison experience has complemented his military training and prepared him to serve all over the world.

"Moving from New York to Harrisonburg, Virginia was a big culture shock," the political science major admits. "The culture here is a lot different than what I've experienced before. One of the biggest things is being able to be culturally aware especially in today's army because we're going to different countries."

2nd Lt. Preczewski has been assigned to the Army Medical Service Corps and, after a vacation to Las Vegas with his brother, will report to Fort Knox, Ky., to help train other ROTC cadets and will eventually end up with the Tenth Mountain Division in Fort Drum, N.Y.