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Weber ROTC celebrates 2012 with a ball

Adorned in their finest Army blues, the Weber State University ROTC held its annual fall-semester

(Photo by Tyler Brown) Weber State University students dine and discuss while senior officers look on at the annual ROTC military ball. The ball also had Captain Grant Stevens speak to the crowd.

military ball on Friday night. Tradition plays a major role in most military balls, and the WSU ROTC ball was no exception. Seven toasts rang out, “To the president! . . . To the Army! . . . To the ladies!” There was also a moment of silence for the table displaying the Fallen Solider, also known as the Battle Cross.

Capt. Grant Stevens was the guest speaker at the ball. Stevens spoke on leadership, and said to the WSU ROTC, “Ladies and gentlemen, what matters most is the mission first, and the soldier is always. . .. The day your soldiers stop coming to you with their problems is the day you cease to be a leader.”

The event was Stevens’ first ROTC Army military ball. He graduated from Weber State University in 2004. He said military balls are very traditional, but also serve the purpose of a social function.

“It is also very customary to remember folks who were lost,” he said. “It’s got a lot of meaning. It’s really traditional.”

According to Stevens, military balls date back to the Colonial Army.

“(It’s to) remember what you’ve been through, the folks who you’ve lost; (to) recognize why you’re there, why you exist as an organization; to build relationships with those in your unit. And, you know, once the formal part of the night is over, it’s really a lot of fun.”

Dinner was served to about 100 guests, according to Josh Hunt, the WSU diversity and unity vice president and a cadet in the WSU ROTC. This was his second ROTC Army ball, but he said he has been to several Air Force balls.

“The military ball is actually a very time-honored tradition that dates back centuries,” Hunt said. “It’s a really cool experience.”

Hunt said that next year, when his ranking changes to MS-4, he will help organize the event. The MS ranking corresponds to the cadet’s year in school. Hunt said the process of organizing an event such as the ROTC Army ball begins at the commander, and filters down to the various levels of leadership until a complete operational order has been disseminated through all leadership levels, delegating responsibility for various tasks.

The ball started at 6 p.m. and lasted until approximately 9:45 p.m. DJ Trevor Hansen of Opus Productions provided the music for the ball, which commenced at 7:30 p.m. Hansen is a self-taught DJ and a current student at WSU.

“This my third time here for Weber State,” said Hansen, a BIS sophomore.

Patricia Kang, a public relations sophomore and a previous cadet in the WSU ROTC, said she didn’t see a future in the Army, but that she has a lot of respect for those still looking for their futures in the program. Kang, who attended the ball last fall semester when she was still in the program, said her favorite part of the event was the less-formal last half.

“Truth be told, (I like) just dancing with all my friends and being able to socialize and stuff,” she said.

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