Decisions made at age 18 often are remembered with regret. Not so for the decision Jason Kettwig ’98 made during Christmas break in 1994.
The Hazel, South Dakota, farm boy had gone home after his first semester at South Dakota State and realized he needed a way to pay for college. He enlisted in the South Dakota Army National Guard. “The recruiter suggested I join ROTC at college. ‘It will help you when you go to basic training,’ he said,” recalled Kettwig, who took the advice.
“One of the best decisions of my life was coming to SDSU and right next to that was joining ROTC,” the career serviceman said.
Kettwig has a total of 27 years of military service, four years of active duty and 23 years in the Guard, which includes deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Today his duty station is in DePuy Military Hall—the same place he trained while an ROTC cadet. His official title is professor of military science.
Kettwig oversees 100 students and a staff of eight, who have a mission to commission cadets into the United States Army.
“I didn’t regret one of the days I spent here as a student and I certainly won’t regret one of the days I will spend as PMS (professor of military science),” he said.
Returned to State in ’21
Lt. Col. Kettwig arrived back on campus in February 2021 after serving as the deputy G-1, the personnel officer in the South Dakota Army National Guard. On the civilian side, Kettwig spent two years as supply chain manager with Mortensen Construction in Minneapolis while serving in the Guard.
The biggest block of his civilian career has been spent in Milbank, where the Kettwigs maintain a home and their two youngest attend school.
Jason Kettwig’s oldest child, Tanner, graduated in May from Black Hills State University and will be commissioned into the U.S. Army. Kettwig said his son joined ROTC for the same reason many of the cadets at SDSU do—“ROTC brings normalcy back into their day.”
Providing structure, camaraderie
Time at college can be very unstructured, especially after a fairly regimented life during a student’s earlier education.
Structure brought about by participating in high school sports and living under parental rules is absent, Kettwig said. “We can provide that in a big way through the culture of being demanding, setting high expectations for their grades and physical fitness, and belonging to a group that is striving for something bigger than themselves.”
The sum of living in that environment is camaraderie.
Kettwig said as he reflects on his own years in ROTC—1994-98—his strongest memories are the people. “The friends I made, whether it was the cadre instructing us or fellow classmates, it was just a great group of people. I’m still in text groups and Facebook with the people I was here with.”
The cadre from 25 years ago—Jan Griesenbrock ’72/M.S. ’86, Lynn Van Zant and Phil Carlson—Kettwig can recall in an instant.
Camaraderie has remained a constant in ROTC life, Kettwig said.
“My friends were cadets. They were the people I hung out with. They were the people I worked with. The same is true today. They hang out together. They work together. They struggle together,” he said.
Technology’s blessing, curse
What has changed?
“The technology that the kids are either blessed with or cursed with. They spend time on email, What’s Up or Slack and not nearly as much sitting around the table hammering out what needs to happen. It saves time sometimes, but also hurts them because they don’t sit around the table hammering out details, dragging out what could be solved in a face-to-face meeting,” he said.
“We were college kids and cadets and some had jobs. Now, it seems like they are bombarded with distractions, extra stuff going on.”
So what’s a commander to do?
“It gives me a great opportunity to talk more about prioritization and time management. I have an exercise where I ask cadets to list their priorities and then have them examine what they are doing during the day that doesn’t support those priorities,” Kettwig said.
High praise for SDSU cadets
Even with the distractions, Kettwig said it has been great working with the cadets.
“They’re good South Dakota kids. They’ve all made some type of commitment to serve and better their leadership skills. The students at SDSU are some of the best students anywhere in the country. I have a good working team right here in the department and (Dean) Lynn Sargeant and the college have been supportive,” Kettwig said.
Kettwig’s assignment at “The West Point of the Plains,” as it has been long known, is for three years.
“My main goal is to try to solidify changes to the culture here to make this a cadet-led, cadre-mentored program,” Kettwig said. His ultimate goal is that “regardless of what cadre we have here, we have cadets that are demanding excellence.”
He believes he is on the right track. “This year, I had a larger number of my senior cadets participating in the competition side of ROTC. We go to three or four competitions per year. Typically, cadets don’t participate in competitions by their senior year. I’m increasing the number of my seniors who participate,” Kettwig said.
Nine seniors graduated in May.
Two graduated in December.
Mission has threefold approach
“Our mission is to commission 15 per year. I think this university can establish a tradition of graduating 15 lieutenants per year,” said Kettwig, noting he would need a freshman class of 60 to have 15 graduates four years later. Most attrition comes in the first two years, so he needs 18 cadets by the end of their sophomore year.
Right now, the unit has 44 cadets, students who are on a military scholarship or are pursuing one with a commitment to military service after graduation.
“The philosophy we have here and the way we approach everything is threefold,” Kettwig said. “No. 1: Recruit and retain the best talent we can from high school. We want kids that will do well at school. No. 2: Training. We try to be prepared so we’re not wasting their time. When they show up to train, we’re ready. No. 3: I tell the cadets, just have fun. This will be the best assignment you have in the military.
“South Dakota is a great state. SDSU is a great school. Be part of this program. From the commander to the cadets, there is a team atmosphere.
“Not every assignment will be as fun as when you’re at South Dakota State.”
– Dave Graves
