University of North Georgia student from Albany ranks among top ROTC cadets

ALBANY — Two ROTC cadets at the University of North Georgia have ranked in the top five – among 5,536 cadets – in this year’s U.S. Army Cadet Command national Order of Merit list. Among them is Cadet Lt. Col. Bryton Wenzel of Albany, who is ranked fifth.

Wenzel, a native of Texas, moved to Southwest Georgia during his elementary school years. He was active in both academics and sports, and when high school graduation rolled around and he was considering what to do with his life, Wenzel decided to follow the same route as his father, grandfather and grandmother’s family and look into the military.

“Other than that, it was just a choice I decided to do for myself,” he said.

In his time at UNG, Wenzel said he has fulfilled an opportunity to serve and has learned much about the concept of sacrifice that many his age may not have connected to yet. He credits much of his recent success to the environment UNG has provided.

“As we get older, we have to learn what to sacrifice,” Wenzel said. “We sacrifice our freedom for other people’s freedom. My ambitions were to be here and be the best I can (not necessarily to rank No. 5). You work hard, and good things follow.

“Success breeds success. North Georgia has a good reputation for breeding really good officers here.”

Wenzel said he anticipates the leadership skills he has learned at UNG to be valuable to him going forward. One of the lessons he has learned, he said, is effective time management.

“(I have learned) how to manage time and prioritize things,” he said. “That is very important, especially being in a military college.”

A recipient of the state-funded UNG Georgia Military Scholarship, Wenzel is majoring in nursing and says he wants to commission into the Corps of Engineers. He serves as the commander of the Corps of Cadets’ 2nd Battalion and has committed to serving four years in the Georgia Army National Guard after graduation.

He said his intention is to go into the Emory or Northside health system (both in metro Atlanta) and work in intensive care and emergency care, to go to Ranger school and to pursue “whatever leads me from there.”

Wenzel said he decided to go into health care after watching his grandfather’s battle with cancer and what it took to care for him.

“I had to learn how to step up and take care of him,” he said. “I have always been fascinated with medical stuff (such as) surgeries, how the body works and stuff like that.”

Wenzel has a 3.95 GPA and has been named to the UNG Dean’s List and President’s Honor Roll throughout his four years at UNG. The scholarship he has received, worth $70,000 over four years, is offered each year only to full-time UNG students serving as enlisted members of the National Guard. The scholarship pays for tuition, books, fees, room, board and uniforms.

He said he is honored by his merit list ranking but is not letting it define him.

“It feels good, but I have to be humble and stay complacent,” Wenzel said. “It’s not me, it is just a number. North Georgia is one of the best military colleges and leader institutes. Here at North Georgia, we are all trying to become better leaders.

“You get out of it as much as you put into it. They don’t just hand you stuff, you have to work for it. That’s what I like about it.”

Wenzel graduated from Baconton Community Charter School in Baconton and is the son of Tina and Jeff Coalson.

Cadets are ranked on the national Order of Merit List, or OML, by achieving superior grade-point averages, strong performances in the Army physical fitness test, proving their worth as exceptional leaders in their college ROTC training and their performance at Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, Ky.

“These two young men represent the very best of UNG and our Corps of Cadets, and we are very proud of their accomplishment,” Col. Brent Cummings, professor of military science at UNG, said of the institution’s honorees. “Our cadets are achieving tremendous results, and I’m very grateful for the support of this great institution and our alumni as we train the future leadership of our Army.”

Wenzel was once the commanding officer of Cadet 1st Lt. Andrew Gomez of Cumming, the other UNG cadet to make the top five.

“One of only six senior military colleges in the country, UNG has a long-standing national reputation for excellence and has produced more than 50 general officers since its founding,” UNG President Bonita C. Jacobs said. “I am proud that our legacy continues to grow and that this year we have two cadets who placed among the top five in the nation.”

This is the third time in four years that UNG cadets placed in the top 10 in the nation. Jonathan Strickland of Gainesville was the No. 1 cadet in 2014, and Eric Gleason of Marietta was ranked eighth in 2015, officials with the university said.

Each fall, in conjunction with their branch selections, all Army ROTC senior cadets from around the country are ranked in a national OML. A cadet’s positioning on the OML can determine his or her priority in being chosen for the branch or occupational specialty of choice. Cadets who are ranked highly on the list typically are given their first choice.