By PHOEBE DONALD ROBINSON / Community Columnist

The very active Vincent High School Army JROTC with over 150 students is led by Maj. Stanley D. Murrell, U.S. Army (retired).

Murrell and his identical twin brother were both scholar athletes in their high school in Vicksburg, Miss.

Murrell’s goal in life was to fly. He received full academic and ROTC scholarships at Delta State University, where he graduated in commercial aviation.

Commissioned as a second lieutenant aviation officer in 1986, he completed flight school at Fort Rucker, where he learned to fly attack helicopters.

He served in the U.S. Army for 22 years and was stationed in multiple U.S. states and overseas in Germany, Iraq and Western Sahara with the United Nations as a military observer.

Among his assignments were: Cobra helicopter platoon leader, 9^th Infantry Division; commander attack helicopter company, 82^nd Airborne Division; commander headquarters troop, 11^th Armored Calvary Regiment (Germany); executive officer, attack helicopter battalion, 25^th Infantry (Hawaii); and chief of operations, 4^th Brigade, 75^th Battle Command Training Division (Hoover.)

He was a senior Army aviator and senior Army parachutist.

He taught senior ROTC at both UAB and the University of Alabama and has been the senior JROTC instructor at Vincent for six years.

He has a Master of Arts in organizational management and is earning his education specialist degree.

“We teach character education in JROTC,” said Murrell. “Our mission is ‘to motivate young people to be better citizens.’ Vincent is the smallest high school in the county but has the largest percentage of JROTC students, 60 percent.

“We do not recruit for the military but use military rules to teach ‘soft skills’ of good verbal and non-verbal interpersonal relationships, how to look someone in the eye, stand up straight, speak correctly and reply to a question. I am so proud of our students,” he said.

“The Vincent JROTC academic team competed in the JROTC Academic Team National Finals multiple times. The Raider team is headed to the national competition for the fourth year in a row, the smallest school at nationals. I live and teach by Roberto Clemente’s motto, ‘If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on earth.’”

Murrell lives in Alabaster with his wife and they have three children.