Junior cadet Lei-Aloha Bratton, left, put a congratulatory lei on the recently commissioned Second Lieutenant Mercedes Xia at the University of Michigan Reserve Officers' Training Corps Army Commissioning at Palmer Commons in Ann Arbor Friday.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Aaron Brumbaugh will spend six to eight months receiving additional training in the U.S. Army before going on to become an infantry platoon leader in charge of 40 soldiers.

Mercedes Xia plans to attend medical school, another stop on her goal of becoming a U.S. Army doctor.

Brumbaugh and Xia, both of Ann Arbor, are members of the graduating class of cadets in the University of Michigan Reserve Army Officer Training Corps.

Along with completing classes for their academic degrees at U-M, they shared grueling early-morning wake-up calls and completed military exercises for ROTC. Before going their separate ways, they’ll share such a rare honor that their commanding officer says it can’t even be referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime distinction.

Lt. Col. Wayne Doyle gives the oath of office to Second Lieutenant Ryan Hyunshik Park.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

On Saturday, they’ll stand alongside 12 other graduating cadets in the Wolverine Battalion during the main commencement ceremony in Michigan Stadium and take their oath of office from the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military -- President Barack Obama, who will be on hand to give the commencement address.

“Everybody’s really excited about it,” said Brumbaugh. “When somebody says, ‘Who commissioned you?’ the President of the United States, it’s such a very select group.”

This morning, the cadets went through a pre-commissioning ceremony at Palmer Commons on the U-M campus, where the other rites of graduation from the ROTC program were administered in front of their family members and friends.

After taking the oath of office Saturday, they will have the rank of second lieutenant.

These graduating cadets were barely teenagers on Sept. 11 and know they stand a very good chance of being deployed to a hostile place, such as Afghanistan or Iraq, during the first few years of their Army careers.

Brigadier General Burton Francisco, commander of the Michigan Army National Guard, told the cadets during his keynote address to remain vigilant and on guard to defend the nation.

“A big concern is that you can’t tell that we are necessarily a nation at war,” he said. “We haven’t been asked to give up anything, like maybe (during) wars in the past. It is the U.S. military that is at war, while the American public is focused on the stock market, health care, gas prices, and reality TV, and what’s going on in the lives of celebrities.”

Lt. Col. Jan Malaikal, chair of the Army Officer Education Program at U-M, said after the ceremony that the cadets going through ROTC today demonstrate a “different level of commitment.”

“They understand they are going to deploy to a war zone,” she said. “And I think it makes them a lot more driven. It makes them a lot more serious about the training we do.”

Amy and Steve Wellein, parents of Second Lieutenant Nathan Wellein, pin on their son's bars at the University of Michigan Reserve Officers' Training Corps Army Commissioning ceremony.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Xia, 22, came to the United States with her family from China when she was 4 years old. Like Brumbaugh, she graduated from Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School and wanted to serve in the military because “I absolutely love this country.”

The ROTC experience, she said, “gave me a lot of leadership experience that otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten.”

Brumbaugh, 22, said he joined for a challenge. “I knew the Army would challenge me more than almost anything else I could do,” he said. “It really was a sort of, ‘Be all that you can be,’ type of decision.

The fact that he might be deployed to a war zone was on his mind from the start. “I think a lot of us are eager to actually get out and do something,” he said, “and are almost glad that we’re not going to just join up and sit in an office for our entire careers.”

ROTC offers competitive, merit-based scholarships that can cover up to four years of college tuition, as well as money for books and monthly stipends. In return, students agree to serve eight years in uniform.

Of the 14 graduating members of the Wolverine Battalion, 10 will go on active duty. The others will serve in the Army Reserve or National Guard.

Dave Gershman is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.