Air Force ROTC Detachment 550

Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) Detachment 550 is a United States Air Force ROTC detachment located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, USA. Commanded by Colonel Christopher O'Hara, Detachment 550 is the 2004 winner of the Right of Line Award, given to the best small AFROTC unit in the country. While Rensselaer is the host university, Detachment 550 has agreements with 21 neighboring schools in the Hudson-Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities for enrollment into the program. Detachment 550 is currently home to approximately 60 AFROTC Cadets.
History
Detachment 550 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was established in 1949. The detachment under the command of Major Edward M. Rex organized the detachment around 97 cadets. The Air Force ROTC detachment was the last of the three branches to be represented on campus. By 1950 the total number of cadets in the wing had increased to 264. In 1951, the cadre grew to 7 officers and 6 enlisted airmen to meet the growing demands of the rapidly expanding detachment. With the beginning of 1952 came the organization of a 30 member AFROTC band which served as a complement to the existing 15 member Drum and Bugle Corps. The detachment grew and shrank in numbers along the years following the eb and flow of support for military organizations and military conflicts.
Since its inception, Detachment 550 has published a wing newsletter. Initially titled "The Prop Wash", the detachment newsletter changed its name to "Flight Lines" in 1952 and was combined into a joint newsletter titled "On Review" in 1953 due to spending budget cuts. The newsletter came to be called "The Eagle's Eye" through the 80's and 90's and eventually settled on the title, "The Navigator," as it is called today.
Distinguished Graduates
* Captain Carmen A. Lucci - First female AFROTC scholarship recipient and first female flight test engineer to lose her life. She was selected to the NASA astronaut corps shortly before her death.
* John "Scarsdale Jack" Newkirk - World War II Ace and member of the Flying Tigers, killed over Burma in March 1942.

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