Maj. Gen. Byron Bagby (Ret.) Reflects on His Life-Altering ROTC Experience at Westminster College

Above: Maj. Gen. Byron Bagby (Ret.) spoke at the ROTC and Military Appreciation Ceremony during Alumni Weekend on April 15, 2023, in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, part of America’s National Churchill Museum (ANCM). After the ceremony, Bagby received ANCM’s prestigious Special Relationship Award. This article is one of a series featuring Westminster College’s ROTC program in honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, 2024.

Maj. Gen. Byron Bagby (Ret.), ’78 IND, once commanded almost 5,000 Soldiers in the U.S. Army ― about half of the entire population of Fulton, Missouri, where he was raised and attended college. Yet that small, nurturing environment is exactly where Bagby received the very foundation of his future success.

Bagby’s highly decorated military career began quietly in 1974 at Westminster College while enrolled in the Westminster ROTC program.

Looking back on that time, he recalls rappelling down the side of Coulter Science Center, marching on the Hill, and knowing that Westminster’s ROTC program was the center of gravity during his Westminster experience.

“ROTC was my rock on campus,” Bagby firmly emphasizes. “The program gave me a genuine sense of belonging. I enjoyed the military classes, the training, the leadership development opportunities, and what I recognized as an avenue to improve myself … assessed purely on performance and potential and not other, perhaps, arbitrarily determined metrics.”

Fast forward nearly five decades, and Bagby has served in executive leadership positions he couldn’t have imagined while at Westminster, including Commandant of the Joint Forces Staff College.

During his military career, he earned two Distinguished Service Medals, four Defense Superior Service Medals, and the Bronze Star, and he is qualified as an Army Ranger and a Master Parachutist.

Now Bagby is living out his well-deserved retirement in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Monique. And although he has lived in a total of five countries and visited 70, the 68-year-old retains a strong interest in both the small-town college and Army ROTC program that gave him his start.

To show his support of both, Bagby has officiated at least one commissioning ceremony and participated in an ROTC and Military Appreciation Ceremony during Alumni Weekend 2023, where he received the Special Relationship Award on behalf of America’s National Churchill Museum.

Bagby also regularly participates in online discussions with students in Westminster’s security studies classes. There, he encounters students who are keenly interested in working in fields associated with national security and are seeking career advice.

Bagby’s advice is simple: They can eventually work their way into the national security arena through the military, or they can pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree in security studies or a related major. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

But, he adds, many more Westminster students could receive well-needed financial assistance through ROTC scholarships, and they could pursue a career in national security by melding their majors with the ROTC program.

Bagby says Westminster’s small program is worth it.

“With larger ROTC programs, there is a tendency to get lost in the larger numbers,” he says with finality. “At Westminster, students have more opportunities for one-on-one development, coaching, and mentorship. The small numbers at Westminster allow our students to grow.”