Watching students overcome their personal fears was the most rewarding part of Lt. Col. Andrew Taylor’s job guiding the lives of Army ROTC Cadets at New Mexico State University. After 20 years in the US Army, and four years as a professor of military science at NMSU, the Army ROTC Commander has announced his retirement. He will be recognized during an official ceremony on July 31 at the White Sands Missile Range.

“It’s been absolutely amazing; it’s a blink of an eye,” Taylor said. “I really love what we’re doing, raising the next generation to take over from our sons and daughters, and I would stay here as long as the military would allow me.”

Taylor was selected by the Army Department to serve the NMSU Army ROTC in 2009. While several memorable moments mark his tenure, among them he highlighted the 2011 Look Who’s Dancing competition, where he competed against other members. community leaders for the benefit of NMSU. DanceSport Company.

“It was humorous in a lot of ways, and a lot of fun,” Taylor said. “I still preach, get out of your comfort zone, and since I practice what I preach, and because I have no coordination and cannot dance, that was huge.”

Other highlights of Taylor’s time with the Bataan Battalion include Tough Enough to Wear Pink Week and the annual Halloween Run, where cadets hold a costumed campus class in support of a fundraiser. canned food for local charities. Each year, cadets also participate in several military appreciation games with football, softball, baseball and basketball.

One of the highlights was the Army Department’s approval of the new Bataan Battalion patch in 2012, which was pinned to cadet uniforms by survivors of the Bataan death march during the 70th anniversary of this infamous march.

“We get raw materials from mothers and fathers across this great country, and four years later they’re leaving as confident leaders,” Taylor said. “It’s a great transformation to see and every day has been like this. So it’s not a single memory, it’s multitudes gathered into one.”

Taylor also served on the NMSU Presidential Research Committee in 2013.

“NMSU has a history, it’s long, it’s proud, it’s distinguished; ROTC the same,” Taylor said. “Everything we do here, we keep the cadets in mind and think about how we can benefit them and the university. “

Prior to NMSU, the career military man served the 23rd Engineer Battalion, Ready First Brigade Combat Team, First Armored Division as a Mechanized Combat Engineer, where he provided mobility, counter-mobility, the ability to survival and general technical support to armored and mechanized infantry forces both in formation in Germany and in operations in Bosnia.

At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he served as the planning officer for the 20th Engineer Brigade where he planned for real-world contingencies, updated war plans, and led his company through a rotation to Joint Readiness. Training Center as company commander of the C / 27 Engineer Battalion.

He then spent time with the US Air Force as an exchange officer at Langley Air Force Base, Va., Where he served as the RED HORSE Civil Engineer, the Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers. In this capacity, he was instrumental in the development, resources, training and validation of the airborne RED HORSE program which has since been deployed several times and which is still a viable tool for Joint and Force missions. Aerial.

He then left for Fort Lewis in Washington as a Brigade Engineer for 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, before being deployed in June 2006 on what would become a 16-month deployment.

Taylor was then assigned to the 555th Engineer Brigade as the Brigade Executive Officer and then led the Brigade Forward Group in Balad Joint Base, Iraq, for their mission as a multinational Engineer Brigade of the Corps-Iraq.

Taylor received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University in 1993 and an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2002. He is the recipient of a Bronze Star medal with two clusters of oak leaves and a meritorious service medal with three clusters of oak leaves.

Taylor’s last day of work at NMSU was June 18. He plans to settle in the area with his wife Jennifer and their two sons, Trevor and Evan.

Lt. Col. David P. McCoy, Information Technology and Air Defense Officer, will succeed Taylor in June. McCoy comes to NMSU from Fort Bliss, Texas, where he was posted as Secretary of the General Staff of the Army’s 32nd Air Defense and Missile Command.

“It will be difficult not to put on the uniform and come to work every day,” Taylor said. “It really is. I have been very, very lucky to have the opportunity to serve here, and I am very humble and very happy for everything that has happened. I couldn’t imagine my life. better than it is right now. “