New Mexico Military Institute

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New Mexico Military Institute is located in Roswell, New Mexico. NMMI was founded on September 3, 1891 by Confederate Col. Robert S. Goss as the Goss Military Institute. Goss was formerly commandant for Fort Worth University, a military school. The school came into being upon the urging of locals, Captain and Mrs. Joseph C. Lea. Records suggest that it was likely at Mrs. Lea's influence that the Goss Military Institute opened its doors to female students as non-military day students immediately. In 1892, Captain Lea and others took steps to bring the school under the care of the Territorial Government. On February 23, 1893, a bill was passed creating the New Mexico Military Institute out of the Goss Military Institute. When the first term began on September 5, 1893, there were fifty-four students. Twenty were women. After 1898, women no longer attended NMMI until 1977. The formative years of NMMI was heavily influenced by the Virginia Military Institute (The pictorial history of the New Mexico Military Institute: 1891-1983, 1983, p. 25). It is recorded that Colonel J.W. Willson,the NMMI's second commandant and third superintendent, was a graduate of VMI and had the "ambition to build a second VMI in the west" ((The pictorial history of the New Mexico Military Institute: 1891-1983, 1983, p. 13). To help do so, he hired a fellow VMI graduate, Major D.C. Pearson, as an instructor in military science and mathematics as well as commandant in 1905. Major Pearson later became superintendent. Pearson worked toward extending NMMI's offerings into a junior college which occurred in 1915. Today, NMMI still includes a four-year high school and a two-year junior college. It is one of five Military Junior Colleges in the United States.

The school's motto is "Duty, Honor, and Achievement"

The school's teams are the Broncos (Jr. College) and the Colts (High School). The school's colors are scarlet and black.

The school's Honor Code is "A Cadet Will Not Lie, Cheat, or Steal, Nor Tolerate Those Who Do."

One of NMMI's nicknames is "The West Point of the West."

The current Commandant of Cadets is Brigadier General Richard B. Geraci.
The current Regimental Commander is c/COL Adam Camp.

Contents

[edit] Corps of Cadets

The Institute's cadets form a Corps of Cadets, which is organized into a single regiment. The Corps had been organized into other systems to reflect the different branch associations it had. NMMI is currently associated with the cavalry, and thus the regiment is made up of squadrons and troops (see below).

The regimental commander is a cadet Colonel. The RC is provided with his or her staff, who oversee important areas of the Corps, and are usually cadets who have attended the Institute for at least five years. The Regimental Staff includes: the Executive Officer (a cadet lieutenant colonel), the RC's second in command; the Regimental Operations Officer (a cadet major), who assists the RC in planning Corps activities; the Regimental Adjutant (a cadet major), who is responsible to the XO; the Regimental Inspector General (a cadet major) is responsible for conducting formal inspections and investigating cases of fraternization; the Provost Marshall (a cadet major) who is responsible for making and supervising a guard duty roster and oversees the cadet constabulary; and the Command Sergeant Major (a cadet CSM), who is responsible for the NCO chain of command. Additionally, there is the Honor Board Chairman (a cadet lieutenant colonel), who oversees the implementation of the cadet Honor Code and prosecutes all honor offenses. The HBC is assisted by an Honor and Ethics Sergeant Major, who is responsible for investigating all honor offenses.

The regiment itself divided into three squadrons, each commanded by a cadet lieutenant colonel, the squadron commander. The Squadron has its own staff with a squadron XO (cadet major), squadron adjutant (cadet captain) and squadron sergeant major (cadet sergeant major). The Squadron Commander oversees the squadron and implements the orders of the RC to his staff.

Further, each squadron is divided into four troops (although that number can change from time to time), which are the primary administrative units at NMMI. Currently all squadrons have a mix of ages (high school and college) and genders. From time to time the gender imbalance of the student body does require the formation of all-male Troops.

Each Troop consists of anywhere from 40 to 90 cadets, and is commanded by a Troop Commander (cadet Captain), and the troop staff usually consists of a 1st Sergeant (cadet 1st SGT) and an XO (cadet 1st LT). The Troop is divided into two platoons. Currently, in some of the troops there are one high school platoon and one college platoon per troop in others the platoons are mixed between high school and college. The platoon is commanded by a Platoon Leader (cadet 2nd LT) who is assisted by a Platoon Sergeant (cadet SFC). There are usually 3 squads per platoon, roughly 8 cadets in each, with a Squad Leader (cadet Staff Sergeant) in charge with 1 or 2 team leaders. The Squad, Platoon, and Troop are the most basic elements in the Corps, and usually regarded as the most important.



[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Military of the United States Portal
  • Porter, J.D. (1983). The Pictorial History of the New Mexico Military Institute: 1891-1983. Roswell, NM: NMMI Alumni Association.
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Colleges and Universities in New Mexico
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The AAA Schools of New Mexico Activities Association
District 1
Bloomfield High School, Crownpoint High School, Miyamura High School, Newcomb High School, Tohatchi High School, Wingate High School, Zuni High School
District 2
Pojoaque Valley High School, Raton High School, Robertson High School, Santa Fe Indian School, St. Michael's High School, West Las Vegas High School
District 3
Chaparral High School, Cobre High School, Hatch Valley High School, Hot Springs High Schools, Socorro High School
District 4
Dexter High School, Lovington High School, NMMI, Portales High School, Ruidoso High School
District 5
Cuba High School, Hope Christian School, Sandia Preparatory School, Laguna Acoma High School, Thoreau High School