TUESDAY
November 30, 2021 VOLUME 111 ISSUE 16
DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
www.UniversityStar.com
Remembering Salyer:
AUSTIN SALYER
A son, brother, hero
By Brianna Benitez Editor-in-Chief Do the right thing. It was a simple, but powerful message that Bonnie and Rodney Salyer instilled into their son, Austin. While there is no handbook to parenting, Bonnie and Rodney worked to ensure their son carried the values of service and respect wherever he went. It was these values that shaped Austin into a person that was loved and cherished by those who knew him. On Sept. 16, Austin was killed after negligent gunfire struck through his room at The Lyndon apartments in San Marcos. He was a 20-year-old junior studying criminal justice and minoring in military science at Texas State. Austin was also a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi-Theta lota chapter and was currently serving in Texas State's Army ROTC with plans to serve as an officer in the U.S. Army after graduation. Austin always had an interest in serving in the military. His ultimate goal, however, was to be a police officer. Austin learned a lot about the military from his father, Rodney, who joined the Army out of high school. "It's just crushing ... how much he missed out on. How much we're missing out on, and honestly, how much society is missing out on," Rodney said. Coming to Texas State, Austin decided to follow the paths of his parents who graduated from Southwest Texas State in December of 1997 with degrees in computer information systems. While both Austin and his parents attended school in San Marcos, their experiences were vastly different. “We didn't really have the quoteunquote, college life,” Rodney said. “We didn't have the dorms. We didn't go floating down the river. So that's kind of what Austin was getting, that we didn't. That's something he loved. He loved the river. He loved San Marcos.” Austin is Bonnie and Rodney’s only child. He was born nearly two months prematurely at six pounds, four ounces on Dec. 21, 2000, in Grapevine, Texas. Austin's parents said he built up his strength quickly and came home on Christmas Day. "From there on out, he was always very strong. He was a strong kid," Rodney said. Austin spent his youth playing sports such as soccer and baseball. In high school, Austin ended up competing for his school's clay target team. It was a new experience for him as he had never done anything like it before. However, his parents said he soon became one of his school's top athletes and ended up competing at the state and national levels. Rodney and Bonnie said Austin was a smart kid who always did really well in school. They recently found a speech Austin had written for a leadership class in his junior year of high school where he mentioned wanting to serve in the Special Forces. "In my life, I want to live my life for others and be very selfless," Austin said in the letter. "In the future, I want to be in Special Forces. While this is dangerous, I want to protect our country. Sometimes I have a hard time focusing on other people before myself, and I'm trying to put people before myself more. I want to give everything for what I believe in no matter how difficult things get, I will always give everything." This past June, Austin was on his way to making his dreams of serving in the military reality. He headed to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training camp where he spent nearly 30 days learning the ins and outs of the U.S. Army. With early morning start times and fast-paced training scenarios, Austin soon formed unbreakable bonds with
A picture of Cadet Austin Salyer and an Army ROTC wreath are displayed during a celebration of life ceremony hosted by the Texas State Army ROTC and the military science department, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, at the Performing Art Center’s Recital Hall. Salyer was killed on Sept. 16 after negligent gunfire struck through his room at The Lyndon apartments in San Marcos. PHOTO BY LILIANA PEREZ
Fellow Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity brothers pay their final respects to Cadet Austin Salyer during a celebration of life ceremony hosted by the Texas State Army ROTC and the military science department, Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, at the Performing Art Center’s Recital Hall. Salyer was killed on Sept. 16 after negligent gunfire struck through his room at The Lyndon apartments in San Marcos. PHOTO BY LILIANA PEREZ
PHOTO COURTESY OF SALYER FAMILY
those around him, especially with his bunkmate Scott Winchell. Unlike the majority of those at camp, Winchell came with several years of military experience. Winchell was familiar with the high-stress environment of basic training, as he completed it nearly eight years ago at Lackland in San Antonio. After previously serving in the Air Force and Auburn University's ROTC program, Winchell wanted to transition to the National Guard in Alabama but was required to complete basic training again. Coming to basic camp with years of military experience, Winchell served as a mentor for Austin and other members undergoing training for the first time. As a way to remember Austin and the memories from basic camp, Winchell had bracelets made once he heard Austin had died. Engraved on the bracelets are phrases that represent the backstories of Austin's time at camp. One of the phrases is "Remember the Alamo," a phrase, that Winchell said, brings a smile to everyone in
an only child. The two met at Cat Camp. They ended up living in San Marcos Hall their freshman year where Austin's room was one floor above and one room over from Trahan's. Just from meeting him, Trahan said he could tell Austin was a great person with a lot of potential. That first year at Texas State, Trahan said, Austin made so many friends. "I really never been around someone like that. Like the way that he was just someone that captured the attention of people. Someone that was just so positive and so caring," Trahan, a political science senior, said. "Austin just was so charismatic. People just looked at him and knew that he was a natural leader." That year, Austin and Trahan were inseparable. In the spring of 2020, they rushed and pledged to Alpha Sigma Phi-Theta lota. Because of the pandemic, their recruitment was paused until the following semester. Trahan and Austin spent the summer in San Marcos together as roommates where they got even closer. Trahan said they both had a lot in common and made each other better. They both desired to be better than the average person and wanted more out of their lives. "He was happy chasing greatness," Trahan said. "He didn't consider it hard work. It was just what he wanted to do. And it really kills me that not only me, but not only his family, not only our fraternity, but just everyone else won't be able to see who he would have become, because he would have been a brainiac. He would have been a hero. He would have been a complete rockstar. And he had nothing but love in his heart. He was just the best guy ever." The day Austin died was a monumental day for Alpha Sigma Phi. Trahan said seeing the support from his brothers was special and showed him the brotherhood he signed up for. "Seeing the way that everyone responded with Austin, made me really thankful that we chose to be a part of it," Trahan said. "I can't imagine like, how I would be dealing with this, if this would have happened and we would have just stayed doing our own thing." For Reagan Chester, a health science and military science sophomore, having Austin as a friend was one of the "best honors in the world." "Talking to Austin makes you feel special because he really focuses on what you say, he doesn't get distracted," Chester said. "He wants you to know that he's there to talk to you, to listen, to respond to you." Chester met Austin in ROTC earlier this spring. She said he loved physical training sessions and was always a support system for anyone who might have been falling behind, often running an extra mile or doing an additional 10 pushups to help motivate his peers. Nearly every night, Chester and Austin would play Call of Duty together. The last time they played was a few nights before Chester left for basic training camp. She said it's a weird feeling knowing they'll never have the chance to play again. Even with Austin gone, his positive attitude and encouraging spirit continue to impact those in Texas State's ROTC program. Roger Muzquiz, a criminal justice junior, recognizes Austin as someone who made the challenging times enjoyable. "Now that he's gone, I try to, I still try to carry those things on," Muzquiz said. "I try to look at everything on the brighter side of things."
the platoon. One night during a field training exercise, the platoon's base was jokingly raided by a group of recent advanced camp graduates. It was dead silent when Austin yelled "Remember the Alamo." "Everybody remembers him yelling that," Winchell said. "Out of all the chaos that was going on, and they just remember what was said. I thought it was hilarious." Winchell sent the bracelets to a few members from base camp and to Austin's parents. He said bracelets are a traditional way to remember anyone in the military who has died. "I just thought it would be the best way to carry him with us," Winchell said. "He deserves the full respect of any other person that commits any time to the army. He would have finished for sure." Being an only child, Rodney said Austin's involvement in ROTC and Alpha Sigma Phi-Theta lota helped fill the void of not having a sibling. One SEE AUSTIN SALYER PAGE 3 of Austin's best friends and fraternity brother, Cade Trahan, also grew up as