Military alumni recognized
Four ECU alumni were honored for their service to the country during the Distinguished Military Service Society ceremony in November. They join 79 others who have been inducted since 2008.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis ’01 ’07 is an Air Force Academy graduate and served as an officer in the Air Force for eight years. He coordinated Air Force One and congressional delegation operations at Andrews Air Force Base and supported families of military members as a mortuary officer. Following active duty, Davis worked as an assistant professor of aerospace studies at ECU Air Force ROTC Detachment 600. Among his honors are the National Defense Service Medal and the Southeast Region United States Air Force Instructor of the Year. He also served as mayor of Snow Hill, served six terms in the N.C. Senate and was elected in 2022 to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Retired Air Force Col. George R. Farfour ’89 is the associate dean of the School of Strategic Force Studies at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He served as an intercontinental ballistic missile officer for most of his career, with experience in nuclear war planning, national nuclear policy and arms control policy. Farfour was commissioned as a distinguished graduate of ECU’s AFROTC. He established an alumni group for Detachment 600 and administers an annual scholarship. His 37 years of active duty resulted in numerous honors including the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal with “N” device and four oak leaf clusters.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Green ’13 enlisted in the Navy as a hospital corpsman and was later commissioned as a Navy medical service corps officer. Green has served during Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Iraqi Freedom III and Inherent Resolve. His commendations include two Meritorious Service Medals and Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune Officer of the Year. Green has led global health engagements, strategic medical planning activities and mitigated environmental health threats around the globe. He also established a memorandum of agreement between ECU and Camp Lejeune to provide ECU students with military medicine experience.
Retired Army Col. Rodney A. Mallette ’88 is the special advisor to the chairman of the board for International Auto Logistics. He was commissioned as a distinguished military graduate from the University of Alabama and has an MBA from ECU. He served more than 27 years in the Army, including a post as chief of staff, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. He is a three-time recipient of the Legion of Merit and received a Defense Meritorious Service Medal and a Joint Service Commendation Medal. He serves on ECU’s Honors College Advancement Council, and he and his wife, Wanda ’75, established a scholarship in the College of Business to support veterans or their spouses.