Posted by Jeffrey A. Pike on March 5, 2009:

Posted 2006-10-06 It's Lieutenant Colonel White Now JMU ROTC Instructor Gets Long-Awaited Promotion By Kelly Jasper (Daily News Record) Before his promotion to lieutenant colonel on Thursday at James Madison University, Maj. Jeff White helps his son Jedidiah, 2, get his fatigues ready for the occasion. Photo by Thomas J. Turney HARRISONBURG - Maj. Jeff White crouched down so his little girls could fasten shiny silver oak leaves - his new insignia pins - to the epaulets of his dress greens. When he stood back up, he stood as Lt. Col. Jeff White. The Army officer was promoted in a ceremony at James Madison University on Thursday. Nearly 100 people congratulated the new lieutenant colonel at the Convocation Center, including about 60 cadets who stood in formation as White was honored. With this promotion, White can't remain a member of the school's ROTC cadre. For two years, he's taught military science classes at JMU, drawing on his more than 20 years of military experience. In May, White will leave for his next assignment. It's too soon to know where that will be. He's just glad it'll be somewhere with the U.S. Army. "I say it again and again, I'd rather be a private in the U.S. Army than a colonel in any other army in the world," White said. "It's an honor to serve. I couldn't imagine doing anything else." Virginia Roots White's a true Tennesseean through and through. He loves his home state. He loves each new post. But there's something about the Valley, he said, that has let his roots burrow deep. Before moving to Harrisonburg, White was the chief of psychological operations in Naples, Italy. Give him the choice and White says he'd rather settle in the Valley any day. "We've gotten attached," he said. "There are great people here." A 1985 West Point graduate also served in Ottawa, Canada and Fort Bragg. He did a tour in Korea, where he met his wife, Jocelyn, who was also an Army officer and is now retired. They met in August of 1992 and were married in Seoul just a few months later. They're parents to Jedidiah, 2, Janine, 4, and Jane, 9. His family stood with him through the ceremony. Each of his three children wore camouflage-printed clothes, like members of White's "own little army," the officer joked. Even if White moves for his next assignment, his family could stay here, he said. All three children are home schooled and the family loves their church, he said. They're members of Grace Baptist in Harrisonburg. "Anything I've ever done right, I'd have to lay the credit to the Lord," White said. "I believe promotions come from God." Year after year, White was passed over for promotion to lieutenant colonel. "I said I was done. I'm not upwardly mobile. This is it," White said. "I was looking to retire - I decided God didn't need me to be a lieutenant colonel to fulfill his plan for my life." And then, this summer, word of the promotion came. "My mom cried. My wife cried," White said. "We realized this is part of God's plan too - Now it's somebody else's turn to take on this privilege."

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