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ASU New ROTC Commander

July 19, 2013

Lt. Col. Pedro Matos has taken up the reins as the new commander of Angelo State University’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 847, replacing the recently re-assigned Lt. Col. Stephen Magnan.

Matos is the senior Air Force officer on campus and holds dual responsibilities as detachment commander and head of the Department of Aerospace Studies.  He is responsible for recruiting, training, motivating and educating Air Force officer candidates.  His immediate plans are to continue his department’s positive recruiting efforts and strong relationship with Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo.

“My intention as an AFROTC detachment commander is to always lead by example and lead from the front, communicate effectively with the unit and empower the cadets and the cadre to lead,” Matos said.  “As leaders, we must always live by our Air Force core values: integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do. I’ll lead this unit with transparency and will work hard to keep every member in our detachment informed.”

A native of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Matos is a career intelligence officer who was first commissioned in the U.S. Army after completing ROTC and earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico in 1996.  After four years as an Army officer, Matos was approved for an inter-service transfer to the U.S. Air Force and subsequently graduated from the intelligence officer course at Goodfellow AFB in 2002.

Matos, who is a full professor for ASU, also earned a master’s of human relations from the University of Oklahoma in 2004 and a master’s in military operational art and science from the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama in 2010.

After having served in Maryland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Arizona, Texas and Colombia, Matos’ most recent assignment prior to arriving at ASU was in Miami as the executive officer to the deputy commander at the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for preparing and conducting joint and combined full-spectrum military operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean in order to support U.S. national security objectives and interagency efforts that promote regional cooperation.

Matos, whose first day as Detachment 847 commander was July 12, said he wants to bring his inter-service and joint experience to the unit’s 110 enrolled cadets.

“I hope to bring the cadets a better perspective of what they’re going to face in the near future,” Matos said.  “We operate in a joint environment where it’s crucial to understand the other branches of the Armed Forces and the inter-agency at large.  To me, this is the right time and the right place to do it – this is my time to give back to our great Air Force by molding and shaping the leaders of our future while also learning from them.”