Dear Wildcat Alumni,

Greetings from Buell Armory...right here in the heart of Big Blue Nation. The last few months have ushered in a bit of change around campus...not only with the basketball team, but also with the ROTC program. 

My name is LTC Jason Cummins, and I have just taken over as PMS from LTC Chris Holly. Chris is off to a one-year deployment to Saudi Arabia, so please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers...he's been the exact leader this program needed for the past year.

I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself and review a couple of upcoming initiatives for the program. I am a Kentucky native that bleeds blue, and I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to return to the Bluegrass. My wife, Shannon, and I are from the Lexington area, having both graduated from UK in 1993. I am an Aviation Officer and have spent the majority of my operational assignments with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell and the 6th Cavalry Brigade in Korea. After company command, I spent some time in Philly for grad school and later taught Economics at the United States Military Academy. Most recently, I completed a four-year tour with the 101st. 

UK has a great history of producing outstanding officers with a passion for service to our great nation, both in the Army and in life after. Unfortunately, we haven't done a good job of capturing and sharing your advancements and achievements (professional and personal) with other Wildcat alumni. As part of our biannual newsletters, we will begin including "alumni updates" grouped by graduation years with the intent of staying better connected. I encourage you to keep us updated with a couple quick sentences highlighting significant achievements, job changes, deployments, marriages, births, etc. Feel free to include digital photos. We're in the process of upgrading our website and Facebook page to better target talented young men and women considering ROTC. The website will incorporate an "alumni link" to facilitate information flow. Moreover, we will continue producing the Wildcat Battalion Newsletter capturing the activities and achievements of our talented team. Thank you for the encouraging emails following the last newsletter. 

A couple of key highlights for this semester include: October 4:  Army 10-Miler...we will be taking an 8-man team from the battalion. October 24:  Wildcat Battalion Alumni Reunion. We will host this year's reunion in conjunction with UK's Military Appreciation Day Football Game (allowing us to offer complementary football tickets for those attending). Please mark your calendars now...and plan to attend. Specific details will be forthcoming. Rough agenda includes: 1100 Opening at Buell Armory (Finger foods, tours, State of the Program) 1300 Keeneland Horse Racing 1700 Tailgating at Commonwealth TBD: Kickoff (UK vs Louisiana Monroe). 

I am thrilled to be a part of this team, and I am committed to every Cadet, Soldier and Family. These will be exciting times and we will accomplish great things, but we will accomplish them as a team. I encourage each of you to visit anytime!

Please pass along this note to any alumni who may have slipped through the cracks. If you have any concerns of questions, please don't hesitate to email or call me. My email is Jason.cummins@uky.edu, and my cell number is 859-699-9652. Thanks again for your continued service and support.

GO CATS!
Sincerely,
Jason Cummins
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Professor of Military Science