Notable Alumni

After she graduated from SFA in 2016, Lori Reeves graduated from U.S. Army Sapper School and became one of fewer than 100 active army sappers in the U.S. Army. Army sappers are combat engineers whose duties include demolitions, airfield construction, clearing minefields and building bridges. While at SFA, Lori was an active member of the SFA ROTC.

Maj. Gen. Neil S. Hersey assumed duties as the Commanding General of the Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon June 6, 2019, after serving as the Deputy Commanding General of the Cyber Center of Excellence and Commandant of the U.S. Army Cyber School at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

He commissioned through ROTC into military intelligence and is a Distinguished Military Graduate of SFA.

Hersey’s command tours in aviation and military intelligence units include Aerial Reconnaissance Company, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion, V Corps; Mission Troop, U.S. Office of Military Support; 1st Military Intelligence Battalion, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, Intelligence and Security Command; 21st Cavalry Brigade, Air Combat, Forces Command; and Joint Task Force Observe, Detect, Identify and Neutralize, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan.

His key staff assignments as a cyberwarfare, aviation and intelligence officer include service as the Deputy Director for Operations at U.S. Central Command, the Director of Operations at the Cyber National Mission Force and Joint Task Force Ares, U.S. Cyber Command, the director for aviation and air sensors at U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, the Intelligence Chief for the 19th Battlefield Coordination Detachment, U.S. Army Europe, and senior staff positions in special operations.

His combat and operational experience includes multiple deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan; Operations Deny Flight, Joint Endeavor, Joint Guard, Joint Forge, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Hungary; and Operation Allied Force, Albania and Kosovo. Most recently, he led Joint Task Force O.D.I.N. in Afghanistan, a multifunctional aviation and intelligence brigade joint task force supporting U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

He holds masters’ degrees in National Security Strategy and Military Applied Arts and Sciences from the National Defense University and the Air University. He is a graduate of the military intelligence basic and advanced courses; the U.S. Army rotary-wing and fixed-wing courses; the U.S. Air Force Command and General Staff College; the National War College; and Ranger, Airborne and Air Assault schools. Hersey is a special operations qualified master aviator, rated in multiple rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, with more than 3,700 total flight hours and more than 1,700 hours in combat and contingency operations.

His awards and decorations are typical of an officer of his rank and time in service. He is married and has two children.

Nacogdoches native Mitch Weatherly was a member of SFA’s Lumberjack Cadet Battalion and was part of the first-ever ROTC commissioning class of 1970. After he left SFA, he became a helicopter pilot and spent a year flying missions in Vietnam. After the Army, he pursued a career in business and worked for Pier 1 Imports. He held the position of executive vice president of store operations when he retired from Pier 1 Imports in 2007. 

In 2016, Mitch was inducted into the U.S. Army Command Cadet Reserve Officer Training Hall of Fame. He is one of just over 300 cadets to receive the prestigious award, which recognizes excellence in leadership.