Joshua Downes is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in History. He is also contracted to commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army through the Reserve Officer Training Corps following graduation in May 2013. During the summer of 2012, Joshua travelled to Fort Lewis, Washington for evaluation at the Army’s Leadership Development Assessment Course. Following this month of field training and evaluation, Joshua was on temporary duty with the 4th Squadron of the 9th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, shadowing a scout platoon leader. Joshua participated in the Normandy Scholars Program in the spring of 2011, where he studied World War II during the semester and travelled to the sites in Europe that summer. He also spent part of the summer of 2011 at the Army’s Basic Airborne Course in order to earn his parachute jump wings. This fall, Joshua will be interning at the United States Department of State, in the Bureau of Political – Military Affairs.