Joint ROTC Commissioning Ceremony Set for May 9 at Constant Center
Rear Adm. Douglas G. Morton
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Douglas G. Morton will be the keynote speaker at the joint spring commissioning ceremony for the Old Dominion University Army ROTC unit and Naval ROTC Hampton Roads unit on Friday, May 9.
Fifty-two Army cadets, Navy midshipmen, officer candidates and Marines will be commissioned as they graduate into the officers' corps before heading to postings around the world. The ceremony, held in conjunction with ODU's May commencement, will take place at 9:30 a.m. in the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
The Hampton Roads Naval ROTC is a consortium of ODU, Hampton University, Norfolk State University and Regent University students. During the Friday event, 26 Army second lieutenants, 21 Navy ensigns and two Marine Corps second lieutenants from ODU will be commissioned along with three ensigns from NSU.
Morton assumed command of Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, in August 2012. His other command tours include Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133, where he led the battalion through deployments to Guam and Southwest Asia, and Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast. Morton's facilities assignments have included tours as assistant resident officer in charge of construction, Puerto Rico area; resident officer in charge, facilities support contracts and assistant public works officer, Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek; and executive officer of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic.
A native of Salisbury, N.C., Morton graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering - construction option. He was commissioned an ensign in the Civil Engineer Corps in 1983. He holds a master's in civil engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Executive Program of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Seminar XXI.
Morton is a Seabee combat warfare officer, a registered professional engineer in Georgia and a member of the Acquisition Professional Community. His personal awards include the Legion of Merit (three awards), Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (five awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), Army Commendation Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (three awards). He also received the 1996 Society of American Military Engineers' Moreell Medal for his service in Operation Joint Endeavor.
For more information about Morton, visit his bio page on the U.S. Navy website.