HELENA — Captain Silver Beaty, an East Helena resident, is paving the way for young cadets across the Treasure State and has been recognized nationally for her dedication to our country and students.

Beaty says, “It is not just a job for me, it was the dream job, and the ultimate thing I wanted to do to give back.”

Beaty is in the Montana Army National Guard and was named the 2025 United States Army Cadet Command Officer Instructor of the Year. The award marks her as the top officer ROTC instructor nationwide, chosen from over 250 people.

“It's the most meaningful recognition I have gotten in my career just because I am so passionate about what I do and I have put so much personal time, sacrifice, driving 600 miles a week to go to work and time away from my family on top of a prior deployment," Beaty says.

Beaty serves as the assistant professor of military science of ROTC at the University of Montana and the newly formed ROTC program at Montana Tech.

She also serves as a guest professor at Carroll College.

Beaty says, “It’s your dream job you have got to try for it and so I applied and interviewed in the middle of the night from eastern Europe and came and started the job 2 weeks after I got home from deployment."

She has been innovative in modernizing the ROTC curriculum for the current generation of cadets, including posting instruction on a YouTube channel to allow cadets to continue in the program even while they are studying abroad.

That channel is now being used as a resource to train new ROTC instructors nationwide.

"Hitting not only on leadership skills but also skills you need in real life, so I do not focus so much on military tactics in my classes I focus on building confidence and being able to lead a startup, or be a CEO one day, or middle management," Beaty says.

During her time at the University of Montana, the program has seen a 150% increase in incoming cadets and the highest first to second-year retention rate in over a decade.

Beaty feels the challenges she faced in ROTC and her ROTC students are the driving force behind this recognition.