The Pettit family tradition

When Isabella native Col. Clay Pettit was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army over 30 years ago, he was following a military career path paved by his father Thomas Pettit (U.S. Navy) and two uncles, Donald Uchtman (U.S. Marine Corps) and Jim “Corky” Pettit (U.S. Army). 

On May 20, Pettit’s youngest son Scott completed the circle when he joined brother Daniel as Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. 

Clay Pettit solemnly administered the oath of office for Scott in ROTC commissioning ceremonies at Missouri State University and became a beaming proud father after it was over. 

Daniel, who was commissioned last year at the same ceremony, traveled the long distance from his field artillery assignment in Korea to participate. He and his mother Shonnie Pettit, who came from Kansas City, performed the ceremonial pinning of rank on Scott’s uniform.

Scott’s uncle, First Sergeant Philip Newsome (U.S. Army Reserves) was also there, serving Scott with his first salute. It was a happy day for the Pettit family. 

“To say that I’m a proud dad is a huge understatement. I’m blessed, grateful, thankful, overjoyed, but most of all, proud to be his and his brother’s dad,” Pettit wrote in a Facebook post later in the day. 

Scott simply reported: “It went better than I thought it would. I really enjoyed having a lot of my family here.” 

The ceremony was the capstone of a long journey toward his goal. 

Scott began his education and ROTC experience at the University of Missouri. After transferring to MSU he spent the last two and a half years in the ROTC program (the “Bear Battalion”) while completing requirements for a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in military science. During his last year at MSU, Scott helped to run the ROTC Battalion.

When asked why he wanted to be in the Army, Scott replied, “I enjoy it. I think it’s a good profession. There is not another profession that directly serves the nation in this way. It’s a family tradition.” 

How did Col. Pettit influence his two sons to be Army officers? He kept them involved in Boy Scout activities and spent a lot of family time with them when they were younger. 

As a military family they moved around a lot, and Pettit urged his sons to be best friends because it would be a comfort when adjusting to new schools and new cities.

“They would fight. They would argue. They would disown each other - or try to. But today, I got the phone bill to prove it. These guys are calling each other three or four days a week, more than they call me. And I think that is the most wonderful thing that I could ever see.”

One unexpected result of the brothers being best friends was that they knew before their father that they were going into the Army.

Col. Pettit found out that Daniel was going to join when they were underneath a 1960 Ford F-100 changing the oil pan. Daniel was only 16 at the time.

“He had been talking about being a mechanic. We were getting oil and dirt all over us, and I looked over at Daniel and said ‘Do you still want to be a mechanic?’ Daniel said, ‘Yeah, but in the Army, not in the Air Force or the Navy.’ That floored me. I didn’t say anything, but I thought wow, he must be joining the Army.” 

Pettit didn’t learn that Daniel had signed up for ROTC until the day before his enlistment. Unfortunately, Pettit was working in Washington, D.C., and couldn’t get an airplane ticket soon enough to attend. 

As for Scott’s enlistment, Pettit had to find out about it through Daniel, who only knew because another cadet texted him a photo and wrote: “Hey, this cadet’s name is Pettit. Do you know him?” Sure enough, it was Daniel’s brother Scott in cadet uniform. By this time Scott was in Fort Leonard Wood doing field exercises with the Mizzou Battallion. It was a surprise to Daniel as well as their father.

Scott explains his secrecy: “I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue with it.”

Pettit admits he did the same thing with his parents over 30 years ago: “I told them two weeks before I went to basic training that I had already joined. They said ‘Well, you joined the Army. How come?’ I said, ‘You were in the Navy, I joined the Army.’”

Although Scott is now a Second Lieutenant, his future will be uncertain until this fall when he finds out where he’s headed for the basic officer leadership course and his first assignment.

In the meantime, Scott will be joining his father in Washington, D.C., to attend Georgetown University where he will spend the summer studying international affairs. 

Clay Pettit recently retired from the military and now works in the Pentagon as the finance officer for the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Regiment. Scott’s mother Shonnie teaches special needs children in Kansas City. As for Daniel, he’s headed back to Korea until his next assignment. 

However, distance has never been a problem for the close-knit Pettit family. As Scott said, “It will all work out.”