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Volume 72, Issue 90,
Monday, Feburary 12, 2007
News ROTC leader preps UH cadets Growing program benefits from decorated Air Force colonel's piloting, leadership experience by LEE CLARK
As a young boy growing up in New York, Col. Philip Bossert -- like a lot of kids in the 1960s -- wanted to be an astronaut. Because a pilot background is a must for space exploration, Bossert made a plan to enter the Air Force Academy, become a pilot and make his way to NASA. "I didn't get into space, but I got to about 45,000 feet (altitude), so I feel pretty good about that," Bossert said. Although Bossert never entered the space program, the UH Air Force ROTC commander has had many achievements throughout his 25-year career, including flying four types of aircraft. Bossert joined the University in the fall of 2006 as commander of the Air Force ROTC, as well as professor of Aerospace Studies. After receiving his officer commission in 1982, Bossert took on many roles, including pilot, student -- four graduate degrees total -- and commander at various assignments. Bossert worked with NATO in 2003 readying European troops for Afghanistan. "In the late 1980s, when my initial pilot training was up, I came pretty close to getting out of the Air Force and going into the airlines," Bossert said. "But, I did a lot of thinking, and I like to do a variety of things in addition to flying. Flying has been fun, but I think if you do anything long enough you get kind of bored with it, and the Air Force has given me the opportunity to do a lot of different things." Bossert's previous assignment before coming to UH was as the Commander of the Air Mobility Operations Control Center at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. For two years he and his staff, working with 52 aircraft, carried out thousands of missions across three continents. Those missions included air refueling, aeromedical evacuation and warfare operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For Bossert's leadership at Ramstein, especially during the war on terror, he was awarded the Legion of Merit medal, which is the nation's seventh highest military decoration. "I was very grateful for (the medal)," Bossert said. "I was very privileged to be a part of (the AMOCC). It was very exciting to be out there on the front lines." At UH, Bossert is the head of a cadre of military personnel whose job is to train cadets to enter the Air Force as officers. Bossert wants his cadets to exemplify two qualities in particular -- professionalism and the ability to perform at a high level in wartime operations. "In 12 months of graduating and getting commissioned we expect our new second lieutenants to be ready to deploy to a combat zone, and we have had a very good reaction from the cadets -- they're rising to the challenge," Bossert said. The Air Force ROTC at UH is one of the newest detachments in the country, and one of Bossert's goals is to spread the word about the detachment and increase the number of cadets in the program. As a result, enrollment in the program has increased by 60 percent in the last eight months. Currently, the detachment has close to 50 cadets, but they want to increase to 200 by 2012. George "Trey" Van Dyke, a junior cadet studying political science, said his fellow cadets have reacted positively to having Bossert as their leader. "Col. Bossert comes with a lot of experience and a lot of enthusiasm. It's really inspired everybody," Van Dyke said. Bossert made his family a priority when he chose the assignment at UH. Bossert wanted his son Andrew, a 14-year-old freshman at Friendswood High, to go to one high school instead of two or three. Any other assignment might see Bossert and his family moving after 18 months or two years. "This will probably be a three- or four-year assignment. I'll more than likely retire here, and (my family and I) plan on staying here for a while," Bossert said. Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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