Our Alumni Serving

Are you or someone you know serving the community, country, or the world? Send in a photo and a description of what you’re doing, where, and for whom. See instructions below.

The VMI Alumni Agencies would like to pay tribute to our citizen-soliders, who are, as Col. J.T.L. Preston said and as printed on the parapet, “an honor to our country and our state, objects of honest pride to their instructors ... and ready in every time of deepest peril ... .”

Those alumni whose photos and articles appear in this section of the Review could be members of the armed forces serving anywhere in the world, or they could be members of police and fire departments, legislators, doctors offering their services to those less fortunate, or alumni volunteering at food pantries.

If you or someone you know is serving others, please submit a high resolution photo (3 or 4 megapixels, minimum) taken at the location you are serving or with the people whom you serve.

Along with the photo, please submit a caption that explains what your service is, where you perform it, and for whom. Send these to the VMI Alumni Review staff at review@vmiaa. org or by mail to VMI Alumni Review, P.O. Box 932, Lexington, VA 24450, Attention: Alumni Review. We will review your submission and consider it for publication.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Don Bradshaw ’80 fills in as deputy garrison commander in Kwajalein Atoll until the new commander arrives. Pictured are (from left) Bradshaw and Capt. Hardy Temoney Jr. ’12, a multifunctional logistician assigned to Kwajalein as the transportation officer.

2nd Lt. D. Kirk Ring ’21 (right) earns his wings at graduation from U.S. Army Flight School in Fort Rucker, Alabama, Aug. 25. He will serve with the Virginia Army National Guard. Pictured are Ring and his uncle, Brig. Gen. James Ring ’88.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Jay Frey ’92 (left) attends his retirement ceremony, along with retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Mark Wise, at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia, following Frey’s 30 years and six months of service.

Alumni stationed in northern Italy with the U.S. Air Force commemorate Founders Day at Aviano Air Base in front of a HH-60 rescue helicopter. Pictured are (from left) Col. Jason M. Mitchell ’98; Lt. Col. Derek R. Rankin ’05; Senior Master Sgt. Anthony R. Boone ’05; and Bryan E. Amsel ’86, retired U.S. Department of the Air Force civilian.

U.S. Army Capts. Mia Cangiano ’18 and Chris Perry ’05 buddy rigging and preparing for an airborne operation Sept. 12, 2022. Cangiano was one of Perry’s cadets as assistant commandant at VMI, and the two now work together under the U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Command.

U.S. Army Capt. Haley Scott ’18 (right) graduates from the Captains Career Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

After completing flight school together, 1st Lt. Jack T. Casey ’19, 1st Lt. Michael A. Banholzer ’19, and Lt. j.g. Taylor J.F. Batte ’20 earned their Wings of Gold Sept. 30, 2022, at Naval Air Station Whiting Field – South. Casey will fly the CH-53E, and Banholzer will fly the AH-1Z for the U.S. Marine Corps. Batte will fly the MH-60S for the U.S. Navy.

U.S. Navy Ensign Riley Dodge ’22 (right) is commissioned by his father, retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Todd S. Gibson, Sept. 17, 2022. Gibson received permission from the USS North Carolina to have the commissioning ceremony conducted on the deck of the battleship.

Gathering at Fort Benning, Georgia, in October 2022 are (from left) 2nd Lts. Sam Rupert ’22, Thomas Wetherell ’22, Jackson Falkner ’22, Alex Wichser ’22, Bo Branham ’21, Zach Lauster ’22, Alex Kong ’22, and Zach Emerson ’22. Rupert, Wetherell, Falkner, and Wichser will be attending Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course, and Branham, Lauster, Kong, and Emerson will be attending Armor Basic Officer Leader Course.