Honoring Darien’s Own in the Military
Giving Back | written by: PAMELA DEY VOSSLER
Arthur Cassidy
While they deserve our gratitude year ‘round, it is perhaps most fitting now in this dedicated season of thanks and celebration to give a special salute to the young graduates from Darien High School (DHS) listed here who serve our country in the military through ROTC programs, direct enlistment, military service academies and Officer Candidate School (OCS).
To shed a light on the path they chose, we spoke with these inspiring DHS graduates.
Arthur Cassidy / DHS ’15 / U.S. Marine Corps, completed service 2024, Captain, served in Okinawa, Japan as a platoon commander, logistics officer; Commissioned through OCS upon graduating from Colby College; Currently an operations manager for VIA, a transit tech company, in San Francisco.
Carter Ashcraft
Carter Ashcraft / DHS ’15 / U.S. Marine Corps, completed service 2021, Sergeant (NCO E5), served in Yuma, AZ and aboard an aircraft carrier as an information management specialist with the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122; Enlisted directly to boot camp after a semester at Miami of Ohio; Currently at Lockheed Martin in Burlington, VT managing computer systems for the F-35 jet.
Christian Trifone
Christian Trifone / DHS ’16 / U.S. Marine Corps, First Lieutenant, serving at Cherry Point, Air Station in NC as a legal officer with Marine Air Control Group 28; Commissioned through OCS upon graduating from Clemson University.
Frank Pirone, standing in back row, second from left
Frank Pirone / DHS ’21 / U.S. Marine Corps, Corporal (NCO E4), serving in Okinawa, Japan as an expeditionary fueling technician with the 9th ESB Bulk Fuel Company; Enlisted directly out of high school.
Excerpts from our conversations:
Q. Why did you join the military?
Arthur: I’d been given all these amazing opportunities growing up in Darien. I felt I had to do something to provide service to the community and the country. The other part was I feel like there’s a very clear, common path for people from Darien. I wanted to do something different and challenging, something that would maybe bring me to a new part of the country or the world.
Carter: I think I just wasn’t quite ready for college …and I had always kind of considered the idea of doing ROTC and commissioning as an officer. I knew that there were a lot of phenomenal lifelong benefits for just a four- or five-year commitment.
Frank: I was drawn to the military as an alternative route because I believed it would give me life-changing experiences and lifelong bonds.
Christian: I had heard a lot of good things about camaraderie in the military and I thought it would be a great challenge. I wanted to push myself to my limits and see what I could do; and I thought it could set the foundation for my future. Also, I had a great childhood and felt like I owed it to our country, to our town, to my family to do something like this.
Q. What did serving mean to you?
Arthur: it definitely instills a lot of pride and I think the pride mostly comes from the fact that it’s difficult and that very few people do it. You’ve earned it and the road to get there is incredibly challenging. So that just makes it all the more rewarding.
Carter: It’s an interesting question because how much impact does one person have in this scenario? It’s more about the whole, and unfortunately, we need a military. If we just decided to retire all of our aircraft and all of our ships, who knows what would happen. So being able to contribute to that at least in a small amount of time, I was humbled by it.
Q. What have you learned from serving?
Arthur: In a lot of ways, it pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, which was so valuable. (Also) the professional experience is truly unmatched, especially as an officer with how much leadership responsibility you’re given right off the bat.
Carter: It was such an interesting experience serving side by side with people that had completely different backgrounds. They’ve known a lot more struggle than I knew growing up. And so there are all of those different perspectives (but) we’re all there doing the exact same thing and sometimes it’s hard. It’s supposed to be, to give you that perspective that hey, it can be bad. But just get through it, get through it together, lean on each other and you will be better for it.
Christian: I think the biggest thing I take away from it is how to lead. One thing that truly inspired me was the people that trained us, the platoon sergeants. There was nothing they made us do that they weren’t doing themselves – almost better and faster than we were. It just
pushes you.
Frank: It’s important to challenge yourself and do the hard things in life to feel accomplished. It seems to me that too many people nowadays are too comfortable being comfortable and they are robbing themselves of a certain kind of fulfillment. I have no regrets joining and it has been a wild ride enlisting. If the day comes that we do have to fight in combat, I’m sure a lot of my opinions will change but at the end of the day, somebody has got to do it.
Note: Though Arthur, Carter, Christian and Frank are all Marines, DHS graduates – including a number of young women – are in all branches of the service. See below.
Students attending Service Academies
West Point
Matt Cavoli ‘26
Alexander Domittner ‘26
Kennison Harmon ‘26
Kyle Kutz ‘24
Connor Lane ‘28
Alexandra Martin ‘28
Olivia Peters ‘26
Teddy Peters ‘27
The Naval Academy
Julia Blake ‘28
Josh Herbert ‘25
Luke O’Connell ‘27
Lana Schmidt ‘25
U.S. Air Force Academy
Max Rancanelli ‘25
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Oliver Bolton ‘25
Students attending University ROTC Programs
Bradley Stevens ‘27
Annika Nelson ‘28
Service Academy Graduates in Active-Duty Military
West Point
Jake Bieler ‘22
Kaitlyn Kutz Cavoli ‘21
Steven Cavoli ‘21
Drew Durkin ‘22
Conor Fay ‘23
Emma Powless ‘20
Madeleine Schneider ‘19
Willem Schuddeboom ‘23
The Naval Academy
Logan Book ‘22
Ian Burgoyne ‘20
Christine Fiore ‘22
Jackson Peters ‘24
Henry Sparkman ‘24
U.S. Air Force Academy
Tommy Hellman ‘23
University ROTC Program Commissions
John Butcher ‘21
George Demopoulos ‘23
John Lochtefeld ‘23
George Sarbinowski ‘24
Nicholas Shpetner ‘22
Active-Duty Military
Joe Hardison
Anthony Pirone
Frank Pirone
William Russell
James Solberg
Christian Trifone
Note: If you know someone who grew up in Darien who should be on this list or who has recently retired from military service (regardless of where they may currently live), please email pam@darienmagazinect.com. We will publish an updated list in a future issue.
