Diana Clough ‘07 was not supposed to be commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army until next month.

But then Lt. Col. Shari L. Corbett, the commander of Santa Clara University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) detachment, received a phone call asking if Clough could make it to Washington, D.C. for a Thursday ceremony at the White House with the president.

Less than 10 hours later, Clough was on a red-eye flight from San Francisco to Washington.

Yesterday, in an elegant East Room ceremony, President George W. Bush welcomed her and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates swore her in as an officer in the world’s most powerful military force.

“Seeing the president walking down the hallway toward us was just amazing,” Clough said. “Everyone probably felt like they were going to faint. It was cool to be within arm’s reach.”

While many of her classmates prepare for office jobs or graduate school, Clough is preparing to take command of troops in the field. After winning a four-year scholarship her senior year of high school, the international relations major has undergone extensive training and proven herself ready to serve.

“She’s very forward thinking, but you should never feed her candy because she’s full of energy,” said Corbett, Clough’s commanding officer. “She’s peppy all the time. We ask that people not feed her candy before 7 a.m.”

The president commended Clough and the other participating students for their hard work during his speech at the event.

“When your roommates slept in, you got up at dawn for a three-mile run,” he said. “While others spread out on the grass on a sunny day, you marched in formation. And when your friends called it a night and headed out to the town, you stayed back to shine your shoes and iron your uniform in preparation for the next day’s inspection.”

“I felt like he was talking about me the entire time, which is really insane,” Clough said. “The speechwriters and the people who do the fact checking called. The fact finders asked us if we get credit and commute to the school.”

Speaking from the family’s Reston, Va. home — in the outskirts of the nation’s capitol — mother Brenda Clough said that the highlight of the ceremony was when she got kissed on the cheek by President Bush.

“I was sitting in the front row, and after he gave his speech, he shook all the hands around and then gave me a kiss and said you must be very proud,” Clough said.

Since Stanford bans ROTC detachments on campus, Clough has commuted to Santa Clara several times a week for four years. She became battalion executive officer at Santa Clara, graduated from airborne and air assault training programs and won top rankings for marksmanship and physical prowess.

This year, about 4,000 graduating college seniors will commission into the Army. Clough’s decorated service record and strong performance in drills places her among the top 50 cadets in the country, according to Corbett.

She wanted to serve in the infantry, but by law women are still not allowed to serve in front-line combat roles. (Men make up 78 percent of her Santa Clara detachment.) So she took the next best thing, which will still allow her to stay close to the action: She will become a military policeman.

About 50 Navy midshipmen and Army cadets were sworn in yesterday afternoon. Clough represented California.

Many of the cadets, including Clough, were still in high school on Sept. 11, 2001.

“We chose to serve when the U.S. was already at war,” Clough said. “It’s different than Vietnam when people were conscripted. Our generation knows they’ll be deployed, and they chose to serve.”

Clough will be the only current member of her family to serve in the military. Her mom acknowledges she’s a little frightened that her daughter has signed up for military service in wartime, but she said she was extraordinarily proud of how seriously she takes her commitment.

“She can do things you see in movies,” said Brenda Clough. “She can do very James Bond-y things like parachute or repel out of helicopters while carrying a rife. It’s very frightening.”

Clough will report for duty on June 20, three days after receiving her Stanford diploma. She will train at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington. From there, she is slated for deployment to Kaiserslautern, Germany — which the troops call “K-town” — home to the 21st theater support command.

The ROTC’s four-year, full tuition scholarship and monthly stipend require a commitment to serve for four years after graduation.

“For most of you, an ROTC scholarship helped pay for your college education,” Bush told the group of cadets at yesterday’s ceremony. “The American people provide these funds willingly. And in return they ask one thing — when their sons and daughters are put in harm’s way, they will be led by officers of character and integrity.”

But Clough hopes to spend her entire career in the Army and dreams of raising a family.

“I’ll probably be in it for life,” she said. “It’s like walking through a doorway. I can’t see going back. It’s hard to start a family, but I know people who have made it work.”

After Clough’s successful experience at Santa Clara, her brother decided he wanted to come out here too. He will attend Santa Clara and has been offered a four-year scholarship to the school. He found out that he would get the honor on the same day his sister found out she would get commissioned at the White House.

Clough is an Olmstead Scholar, has trained with the British military and was on an elite ranger challenge team that trekked across the New Mexico desert in a reenactment of the Bataan Death March. She attended 33 days of training last summer at Fort Lewis, Wash. and graduated third of 47 in her regiment.

On Wednesday night, she missed a charity date auction that she had organized. Someone at the event donated $120 for the chance to take her on a date.

Even with the rigorous demands of physical and leadership training at a different university, Clough maintained a 3.98 grade point average.

“She has a few A minuses,” said Corbett, “and that’s about it.”

A poster of Angelina Jolie in the 2001 movie “Tomb Raider” hangs directly over Clough’s bed in Reston, Va.

“I realized that she is better toned than Angelina Jolie,” said Brenda Clough. “How does this happen?”

“The Army,” she said, answering her own question.