Twenty-three graduating Cornell seniors took oaths of office and received first salutes as newly commissioned second lieutenants or ensigns in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Space Force during campus ceremonies May 21–22. Sidney Anop and Juan Rodriguez, members of the ROTC Tri-Service Brigade, earned Cornell’s first informal title of “mustang.” In the Navy and Marines, mustangs are officers who started their careers by enlisting, often out of high school, before entering commissioned ranks through competitive programs that enabled college attendance. Rodriguez, a former enlisted Marine helicopter mechanic and instructor, is headed to flight school to become a Marine pilot. Anop, from a family of enlisted sailors, will become a surface warfare officer on a Navy destroyer. Both aim to pave a path for future mustangs at Cornell.
""It's a huge honor," said Rodriguez, 31, a former helicopter mechanic and instructor on track to become a Marine pilot. "Most Marines can tell which officers are mustangs just based on how they carry themselves. Thosewere usually the officers I would be a little bit more open with.""
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