Learn How People Have Gained from ROTC

Anthony R. Latta

1977 College of Social Sciences

To earn extra money halfway through his college career, Anthony Latta spent a year working full time, in hard-labor jobs. He says that experience provided all the motivation he needed to finish college.

Latta, who was an active member of Black Students United for Racial Equality, graduated from SCSU with a bachelor in elective studies and received a Master’s Degree in Information Systems from Webster University in Kansas City, Mo. Upon his graduation, Latta was commissioned second lieutenant, the first black ROTC officer in the area. He went on to become a computer guru at the Pentagon.

The Army veteran is currently president of Invictus Systems in Burke, Va., a software company he founded that produces nutrition labels for corporate customers such as Campbell’s, Nestlé, and Stouffer’s.

He received a 2004 Alumni Award that was presented during the Alumni Homecoming celebration on Oct. 22, 2004.

To read more about Mr. Latta’s accomplishments click on the links below:

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Brigadier General Joseph P. Kelly

Assistant Adjutant General-Joint Staff, Minnesota National Guard

Brig. Gen. Joseph P. Kelly is the Assistant Adjutant General-Joint Staff, Minnesota National Guard.  In addition to supervising Minnesota’s joint staff, his responsibilities include recruiting and retention, facilities management, international affairs, emergency response operations, government relations, and strategic planning. 

General Kelly was born on September 20, 1960 in Olivia, Minnesota.  He enlisted in the Minnesota Army National Guard in May 1980 as a field artilleryman.

In September 1980, he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery in May 1982.  General Kelly holds a bachelors degree in accounting and a masters in strategic studies.

General Kelly served in the Field Artillery for 8 years and branch transferred to Armor in 1990.  He commanded troop units at the company, battalion, and brigade levels.  General Kelly served in a number of senior staff positions at the states headquarters including the Director of Plans, Operations, and Training (G3) and Chief of Staff.  He performed a tour of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, serving as the Reserve Components Division Chief for Multi-National Corps-Iraq in Baghdad.   General Kelly has served on fulltime duty with the Minnesota National Guard for more than 22 years.

His military education includes the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course, Armor Officer Advanced Course, M60A3> and M1 Tank Commander Courses, Command and General Staff Officer Course, and the Defense Strategy Course, and the United States Army War College.

General Kelly’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal> (3rd award), Army Commendation Medal (4th award), Army Achievement Medal, and Iraq Campaign Medal.  Among his state awards are the Minnesota Distinguished Service Medal (2nd award), Medal for Merit, Commendation Medal (2nd award), and Distinguished Recruiting Ribbon. 

His memberships include the National Guard Association of the United States, Association of the United States Army, United States Army Armor Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion.

General Kelly is married to the former Jean Detke.  Jean is a registered nurse and works as the Director of Surgical Services at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.  They have two daughters, Megan and Maura, and reside in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Senator David Durenberger

A native of Collegeville, Senator David Durenberger was the son of 42 year St. John’s University Athletic Director George Durenberger. His mother is 95 years old and in a nursing home in Minneapolis. He graduated from St. John’s Prep School in 1951 and St. John’s University in 1955. While attending St. John’s, Senator Durenberger was involved in Army ROTC, becoming the program’s first cadet battalion commander and the top honor cadet. Senator Durenberger went on the serve in the United States Army as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1956-1963. During this time, Senator Durenberger also graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Senator Durenberger served as the senior U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1978 to 1995. During his time in the Senate, Senator Durenberger served as chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence; chairman of the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee and was catapulted into the leadership role in national health reform.

In addition, Senator Durenberger chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, led President Reagan's New Federalism effort in 1982, and was a 14-year member of the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He was also a member of the Senate Environment Committee; Government Affairs Committee; and the committee now known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and served as Vice Chair of the Pepper Commission in 1989-1990.

Senator Durenberger is currently a Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis Minnesota and chairs the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP).

Today, he influences the future of the nation’s two major public health programs as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the Kaiser Foundation Commission on the Future of Medicaid and the Uninsured, the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the National Commission for Quality Long-term Care. He is also Advisory Board Chair of the Medical Technology Leadership Forum.

Senator Durenberger was also named by Governor Tim Pawlentyto lead the Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs, an inside-out approach to healthcare reform in Minnesota. He is author of Prescription for Change and Neither Madman Nor Messiahsand teaches and speaks nationally on the future of healthcare delivery and policy.

Michael J. Ford

Attorney at Law

Mike Ford is a 1970 graduate of St. John’s University ROTC Program and spent almost five years on active duty (1970 - 73, 82nd Airborne Division and 1973 - 75, 6th Ordinance Battalion, Republic of Korea) and twelve years in the Army Reserve (205th Infantry Brigade and 13th Psychological Operations Battalion).

Mike Ford is a member of the Board of the firm and a shareholder who practices in the areas of civil litigation, insurance coverage, employment and government liability and land use and general casualty law. Mike has spoken and written extensively and has served as President of the Stearns & Benton Bar Association and the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association. Mr. Ford is currently the President-Elect of the Minnesota State Bar Association. He has maintained an “AV” rating with Martindale Hubbell since the eighties and has been selected as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer” each year since 2001.

Mr. Ford was born in New York, New York in 1948. He became a shareholder in the firm in 1987.

Chris DeLaForest

State Representative

Chris DeLaForest holds a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of St. John’s University ROTC Program. He proudly served on active duty as an Army Officer from 1992-1996.

Chris DeLaForest proudly represents the citizens of District 49A (Andover and Ham Lake) in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He was first elected in 2002, receiving 64% of the popular vote. He was re-elected in 2004 with 63% of the popular vote, and in 2006 with 60% of the popular vote.

At the Capitol, Chris holds four committee assignments, including State Government Finance (GOP Lead), Taxes, Commerce & Labor, and Public Safety Policy. He has previously served as Vice Chair of the Civil Law & Elections Committee and Chairman of the Joint Subcommittee on Employee Relations.

Believing strongly in the concept of the “citizen legislator”, he holds a job outside of politics, working for a manufacturing company that builds testing devices for semi-conductors.

Chris is also involved in the community. He belongs to American Legion Post 102, Epiphany Church, Pheasants Forever (Anoka County Chapter), the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association (Rum River Chapter) while also helping coach his son’s hockey team.

An avid hunter, he takes to the field as often as possible to take advantage of Minnesota’s wonderful outdoors heritage. Chris also enjoys working out and following the University of Minnesota hockey team, a passion since he first bought season tickets as a student.

Chris lives in Andover with his wife of 13 years, Karen, and their two sons, Ben (age 5) and Will (age 2).

Jim Martin

Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker

Jim Martin is a 1968 graduate of St. John’s University ROTC program. He is currently a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work with thirty-seven years of professional social work practice. Jim is a tenured Associate Professor. His scholarship and public service focus on individual, family, and community well-being and his research involves military and veteran populations and emphasizes family and community issues.  Jim is an elected member of the Bryn Mawr’s faculty committee responsible for establishing academic priorities and a member of the College’s Task Force on Balancing the College’s Mission and Resources, a two year Trustee, Administration, and Faculty task force charged with balancing the College’s mission and resource for the next decade.  A retired Army Colonel, Jim’s 26 year career in the Army Medical Department included clinical, research, as well as senior management (command) and policy assignments.  Jim was the senior Social Work Officer in the Persian Gulf Theater of Operations during the first Gulf War and edited The Gulf War and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Guide (Praeger, 1996).  Jim served on a National Research Council / Naval Studies Board Panel that examined quality of life for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.  He was a co-investigator for a Department of Defense study that examined adaptation of women to the Marine Corps and he served as a senior consultant for a business process reengineering study of the Navy’s Fleet & Family Support Program. Jim has served as a consultant to the Department of the Army for a variety of human dimension initiatives associated with Army Transformation and he contributed in the development of the Army Chief of Staff’s White Paper on Army Families.  He was a consultant to a Veterans Administration (VA) on risk and resilience factors associated with the mental health of Persian Gulf War Veterans.  Currently, Jim is a consultant for a VA research project that is developing Internet technology to support family adaptation during military deployments.  Jim was a founding contributor for the establishment of the National Demonstration Program for Citizen Soldier Support at the University of North Carolina. He lead the Center’s Health and Mental Health initiatives in 2005 and served as the Center’s Director during the 2006-2007 academic year.  Jim was the senior editor of The Military Family: A Practice Guide for Human Service Providers (Praeger, 2000), as well as the senior author of a 2004 National Council on Family Relations policy statement on community support for military families. Jim served as a contributing author for a soon to be released Department of the Army monograph What We Know About Army Families. This document examines more that 20 years of research on Army Families. For the past five years Jim has been a member of a research collaborative promoting community capacity at Air Force communities world-wide.  Jim currently serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors of American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work.  He is a founding board member of the National Center for Clinical Social Work.

Jon C. Crook, PhD

Clinical Director of Employee Assistance Program

Dr. Crook holds a PhD from the Case Western Reserve University, a Masters Degree from Miami (Ohio) and a graduate of St. John’s University ROTC Program. He proudly served on active duty as an Armor and AG Officer from 1971-1976.

He served as a coach, teacher, counselor, and principal in several independent schools in Texas and Kansas from 1978 to 1991. He then joined a behavioral healthcare group in 1991 and became a full time therapist. He currently holds licenses as Marriage and Family Therapist, a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and Substance Abuse Professional as defined by DOT.

Currently, he is the Clinical Director of Employee Assistance Programs for Corphealth in Fort Worth Texas. They provide employee assistance to many companies of various sizes including BNSF Railway and Miller Beer.

He was also appointed Assistant Professor in the Graduate Counseling Program at Texas Wesleyan University in 2006.

Dr. Crook lives in the Ft. Worth area with his wife Mary and has two children, Andy and Carolyn. Andy graduated from St. John’s University, and Carolyn graduated from the College of St. Benedict 1995.

Terry Fruth

Attorney at Fruth, Jamison & Elsass, P.A., Minneapolis, MN

Terry Fruth is a 1960 Distinguished Military Graduate of St. John’s University ROTC Program. After commissioning as an Army Officer he then went to law school at the University of Minnesota. He proudly served on active duty in the Adjutant General Corps. After his tour of duty at Ft. Hamilton, NY he returned to the Twin Cities where he entered private practice. Terry Fruth has practiced in business litigation for over 30 years and has extensive trial experience in a wide range of business disputes. Based on voting by fellow lawyers, Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine has listed Fruth as one of its Top 40 Business Litigators in Minnesota.

Fruth is a member of state and local bar associations, the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and served as a Contributing Editor to The Developing Labor Lawyer.

He has completed courses in the L.L.M. advanced degree program at New York University. Terry is currently the senior partner in a business litigation practice and serves on the SJU Board of Regents. Fruth and his wife, Mary, reside in Minneapolis, MN.

LTC (Ret) William D. Palmer

Teacher at Cottonwood High School

Bill Palmer was born in 1958 in Marshall, Minnesota.  He attended public schools and graduated in 1976 from Marshall Senior High School.  He accepted an ROTC scholarship and pursued his bachelor’s degree at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, graduating in 1980 with a B.A. in history summa cum laude.  He was a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Saint John’s ROTC program and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve.

Bill's military career included assignments around the United States and overseas.  He served as a military prosecutor and legal advisor to the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and the command at Fort Polk, Louisiana.  He served as the only legal advisor to the Army industrial command at Sierra Army Depot, California. Three years' service as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Law at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York was one of his career highlights.  He served a memorable two years as the legal advisor to the commandant of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks (military prison) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  He led the Baumholder Legal Center of the 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany for two years.  He served as the supervisor of prosecutors and the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and as the Staff Judge Advocate to the Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland.  His final assignment was as the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.A 1997 graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, Bill is also a Commandant’s List graduate of the Judge Advocate Graduate Course of the Judge Advocate General’s School, Charlottesville, Virginia in 1993, earning an LL.M. in Military Law.  During his Master of Laws studies he prepared and defended a graduate thesis examining the need for reforms to the Army’s conscientious objector program.  He is also a commandant’s list graduate of the Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course in 1984.  Bill retired from his Army career in September 2004.

Bill's military awards include two awards of the Legion of Merit; six awards of the Meritorious Service Medal: three awards of the Army Commendation Medal; the Army Achievement Medal; the Army Superior Unit Award; and the Army Materiel Command Legal Achievement Award for 1988.  He has published professional articles in The Military Law Review and Parameters and has presented papers to meetings of the Upper Great Plains History Association, the Historical Societies of Lyon and Pipestone Counties, the Frederick County Maryland Bar Association, the Military Section of the New York County Bar Association, and the Military Committee of the Missouri State Bar Association.  He is admitted to practice before the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the Court of Appeals for the 5th U.S. Circuit. 

LTC (Ret) Palmer is currently a history teacher at Cottonwood High School in Cottonwood, MN. 

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