A duty to lead: Billings heads to military academy at West Point

Photo: Melody Billings,and her mother Katy

AUBURN -  When Melody Billings overlooked the Hudson River this fall amidst the beautiful architecture of America’s first military academy at West Point, N.Y., she thought of her grandpa.

The Auburn High School Senior’s Facebook page chronicles her deeds as a softball, basketball and soccer player, but her grandpa Dale Thomas knew something more about her.

Billings: “He knew ever since I was a kid I’ve always been interested in the military. You know, for Halloween I always dressed up as a soldier, so he mentioned something about it and every since then I’ve just been fascinated with it.”

She celebrated with her friends when the school announced she had been accepted to West Point, but there were solemn moments for the man who had supported her above all others during the application process.

 

Billings: “He actually passed away last December, so it’s kind of been hard, you know, of getting this news thinking that I’m so excited that I get to go to West Point, but  the one person that I really wanted to tell, I didn’t get to tell. But I think he’s the reason I got in and he’s the reason I pushed so hard to try and get in.”

The cadet-candidate expects to declare a life sciences major and hopes for a minor in terrorism studies.

Billings: “I think growing up in a post-911 world, in a world where the United States had been at war for so long – my entire life the United States has been at war with someone until recently, so I think that definitely affected the way I saw the military and how I felt about joining the military.”

She says her youth in Auburn has put her in leadership situations that will serve as a forever asset.

Billings: “I’ve always felt that because the town is so small and you know everyone it’s your duty to be a leader.”

Two of her great-grandpas – Neal Raymond Thomas USAF and Earl Dettmer Army --  are listed on the war memorial at Legion Memorial Park in Auburn. Billings says her grandpa Dale Thomas was very patriotic and he noticed some of that in her too.

 Billings: “He knew the military was the right path for me. He knew that I loved the military. He didn’t serve in the military, but he was a very patriotic person, a very caring person. I think he knew this place would be the best fit for me and would give me the best future.”

She said if she had a chance to speak with her grandpa now, she would tell him ‘the wait is over.’