Major Ryan Cripps is the new JROTC instructor. After retiring in 2015, Cripps immediately looked for a JROTC position in the Omaha metro area. He moved to Iowa for a bit but found his way back to Omaha, getting a security job at Papillion La Vista South. It was there someone talked to him about the JROTC job at Central. Just after the day of the interview, he was hired. 

Cripps has had over 20 plus years of military service, serving in Guantanamo, South Korea, Baghdad and Kabul. He went into the army when he was 18. His father was a navy veteran stationed over at Offutt Air Force Base in STRATCOM. After serving for his first four years, Cripps came back to Omaha in 1995 and got a degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He later decided to reenlist with the army in January of 2001. He was only planning on doing a few years, until the events that transpired on Sept. 11 caused him to stay. 

 Major Cripps has loved working with kids and has four children of his own. When at Papillion La Vista South, he got to work with students that had behavior problems, which has helped him communicate with many around the school.  

He has always liked working with the younger generations. In service, he loved to work with the young soldiers and see them grow through the ranks. It prompted him to become a JROTC instructor. 

If he had not gotten the JROTC position at Central, he would have still wanted to work with children. “If the JROTC job didn’t happen, I even thought about working at Boys Town,” Cripps said.  

One of the most interesting situations Cripps has been in was an active shooting. Cripps had been involved in the 2009 mass shooting in Fort Hood Texas, one of the deadliest shootings on a military base. From this experience, Cripps believes he can better protect students from situations such as these. “I know the do’s and don’ts of an active shooting, many students have approached me and asked me questions about it, but that’s not going to happen here,” Cripps said.  

Since being at Central, Cripps has warmed up to the school and staff. He believes that this school is unlike any other in the state of Nebraska.  

“Because it is such an old school you have a lot of affluent people who have graduated from here, so we have a really strong alumni association,” said Cripps. 

Because of the strong alumni base and significant funding, the JROTC program has received a lot of grant funding. With the funding, they can purchase color guard and rifle team equipment. “To get it through our channels, we have to go through the school district or the army and it’s a long process and tough to do, whereas it is much easier to go through the alumni association,” Cripps says. 

As this year moves on, Major Cripps looks to bring some improvements to the JROTC program. He plans on creating an exhibition drill team where the cadets would to the intricate spinning with rifles.