It’s an exercise that’s important not just as a show of respect, but because, “Everyone needs a hero,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Busch, commander of the Air Force detachment based at UD. He is also a command pilot who, having served on five continents, has lost friends in combat. “We want that example of what we can be and how we should conduct ourselves, so when the time comes, we are able to stand up to adversity and live up to that expectation. We can stare down the evil that’s in the world and make things better.”

During a typical year, ROTC cadets — who train for an officer position in the U.S. military alongside their regular studies — would now be preparing to participate in Newark’s annual Memorial Day parade. But due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, that event has been canceled — along with field trainings, final battalion gatherings, and in-person commissioning ceremonies, in which the students would have received their new rank in front of friends and family. While most college seniors around the country are mourning the loss of milestone events, there comes an added layer of disappointment for ROTC participants. But, cadets will tell you, reflecting on fallen soldiers has a way of keeping things in perspective.

“It’s definitely humbling,” said Army Cadet Robert Hepburn, economics and international relations major who will soon deploy to Germany as an infantry officer. In 2018, as a member of the state’s National Guard, he was named Delaware’s “soldier of the year.” “There are far worse things to lose than a commissioning ceremony. You can’t compare any of this to dying for your country.”

There is an upside to the pandemic.

“The silver lining is that we have more time for quiet reflection this year,” said Air Force Cadet Will Walker, a computer science major set to work for a year as a Gold Bar Recruiter at Boston University,  introducing students to ROTC. After that, he’ll move to Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, where he’ll begin a career as a cyber operations warfare officer — potentially becoming one of the first lieutenants in the U.S. Space Force.

For military role models, some students need look no further than their own families. Take Jacob Dominelli, an Army cadet and civil engineering major deploying to Germany. He said both of his grandfathers were Army, too — one, a UD graduate, served during peacetime; the other during the Korean War.

“The grandfather who saw combat was a paratrooper, and he air jumped right into an enemy trench, where he was bayoneted,” said Dominelli, a Newark native. “And that was just the beginning of the day. My dad would tell me he picked wooden shrapnel out of his back for years.”

Dominelli, who has spent time maintaining a military cemetery close to campus with fellow cadets, said courageous stories like this are more common than you may think — and this gives him a sense of peace about his decision to follow in potentially dangerous footsteps.

“People do these crazy, heroic things,” he said. “But when it comes down to it, they’re just human like you or me.”