UToledo ROTC cadets Brandon Russell, left, and Julia Wilkinson, second from right, meet with Ohio National Guard officers Maj. James O’Dell, second from left, and Capt. Mike Knott, right, at Carter Field last week. Knott and O’Dell flew a Black Hawk helicopter to Main Campus to familiarize cadets with the aircraft in preparation for an upcoming training exercise.
Knott, a senior aviator and instructor pilot, joined UToledo in 2008 and, a year later, enlisted in the National Guard and then joined the ROTC. After earning a degree in mechanical engineering technology in 2013 from UToledo, he went to flight school in Alabama and then returned to Ohio. He is now the operations manager at his flight facility in Akron.
“I think UT really helped prepare me to go down that path as far as developing good study habits and all those things that got me up to what has now become a career for me,” Knott said. “I got a lot of experience, I got to travel the world and it all started right here.”
Lt. Col. Colby Pepon, professor and chair of The University of Toledo Military Science and Leadership Department, said the exercise was to showcase different transportation the Army offers while facilitating mandatory training. The cadets will load up again and fly out from campus at the end of the month for their field training exercise.
“For the students — the cadets — it’s more real when they realize it’s an alum who flew the helicopter here,” he said. “We have a lot of cadets who consider aviation as their future job or branch, so it makes it a little more realistic that they can see the dream rather than just thinking about the dream.”
Wilkinson, a senior studying nursing and the Rocket Battalion Leadership Lab Officer In-Charge, added that this was the first time she and the other cadets had the opportunity to train with a helicopter on campus.
“We’re really grateful for Capt. Knott getting his team here,” she said. “A lot of the cadets are MS1s, meaning they’re only freshmen, so this is their first military experience and the first time even wearing the uniform. And then they get to see this? This is amazing, not everyone gets this.”
Russell, a senior studying criminal justice, is sergeant major of the Rocket Battalion Cadet Command.
