BOLIVAR, Mo. — Southwest Baptist University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program hosted
a ceremony Jan. 15 to finalize a 2019 DPT graduate’s commission as a military officer.
Glory Reichard took the oath of office as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and will be stationed in Okinawa, Japan, with the Medical Service Corps. SBU DPT alum CDR Chuck Rainey ’09, a regional chief therapist with the U.S. Public Health Service, administered LT Reichard’s oath of office.
“I’ve been working toward military service since my undergraduate days,” Reichard said. “I got this far, and I credit it to you,” she said to her family members and SBU faculty and staff who were present. “I fell back on everything I learned here from everyone.”
After graduation, Reichard worked as a traveling physical therapist in Alabama as a temporary job while she navigated the process of joining the military. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, she returned home to Nevada, Mo., where she worked at the local hospital. She also has been giving back to SBU and the Bolivar community by volunteering in the SBU DPT Faculty Practice Clinic. All of these experiences have helped her prepare for her military career.
“She’ll have the great honor to be treating sailors and Marines as a physical therapist
and then also have the great honor to mentor and lead enlisted sailors,” CDR Rainey
said. “I’ve gotten to know Glory over the last year, and she definitely is going to
go very far in her career and make us all proud.”
PHOTO 1: CDR Chuck Rainey ’09, regional chief therapist with the U.S. Public Health Service (right) finalizes Glory Reichard ’19 commission as a military officer.
PHOTO 2: Dr. Tom Sneed, professor of physical therapy in SBU’s DPT program (left), prays over Glory Reichard during her commissioning ceremony.
*Published: 2-18-2021