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Austin Peay State University Army ROTC to honor memory of 1st Lt. Kip Stevens with ceremony, induction on November 17th

Austin Peay State University - APSUClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s Governors Guard ROTC detachment prides itself on teaching young men and women to become officers and leaders; soldiers who continually do what is necessary to achieve success on every mission – in the classroom, in training in the field and on the field of battle.

1st Lt. Kip Stevens
1st Lt. Kip Stevens

On Thursday, November 17th at 11:00am at the Memorial Health Building on the University campus, the Austin Peay ROTC program will honor the memory of one of its graduates who died in the service of his country, 1st Lt. Kip Stevens, with a special ceremony, followed by his induction into the Austin Peay ROTC Wall of Fame.

Stevens was a model of what Governors Guard cadets strive to achieve. Born at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and a 1977 graduate of Northwest High School in Clarksville, Stevens served both stateside and overseas as an enlisted soldier before attending Austin Peay on an Army ROTC scholarship in 1981.

While attending Austin Peay, he was a member of the Tennessee Eta Tau Chapter, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Student Government Association. A charter member of the Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society, Stevens was also a member of the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society. In Army ROTC, Stevens served as S-1 and as executive officer during his senior year.

Upon graduation in June 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in French, Stevens was commissioned on active duty as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps.

As an officer, Stevens attended Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, from July 1984 to January 1985. He was then assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky. From there, he would deploy with Task Force 3-502nd (Multinational Force and Observers) to the Sinai Peninsula.  He was promoted to first lieutenant shortly before his death.

During their return flight on December 12th, 1985, all 248 soldiers of Task Force 3-502nd on Arrow Air, including Stevens, were killed in a plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland. He is buried at Fort Donelson National Cemetery, Dover, Tennessee.

For more information about the Austin Peay ROTC program, visit www.apsu.edu/rotc

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