ROTC winning awards
USU’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps’ 14th Brigade has been selected to win two different MacArthur Awards for the western region of the United States for the fiscal year of 2006, with a decision on whether they have won the third award in February.
The award, presented by the U.S. Army Cadet Command that recognizes the best ROTC battalions nationwide, is based on cadet records.
“Commanders look at us twice a year,” said Lt. Col. Rand Curtis, head of USU’s Army ROTC program.
Selection for the MacArthur Award is made based on cadets’ leadership, development and assessment rate, GPA and contract and commission rates, said Col. Tanya Olsen, recruiting and operations officer.
Commission means a cadet will either serve on active duty or in the U.S. Army Reserve in the specific branch they have been assigned, Olsen said.
“More than one-third of our cadets get commissioned. That puts us in the top 10 percent in the country,” second Lt. Joshua Dawson said.
“We have outstanding ROTC students. The average GPA is in the three-point range,” Olsen said. USU students also had high levels of physical fitness and performance, also factors in the award decision.
“The first award was for best brigade while competing for records against four other states including schools in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California,” Curtis said.
The second part was an award for the best cadet records in the Western Region of the United States which “involves 140 schools over 25 different states,” Curtis said.
It will probably be a month before they know about Cadet Command, the third and highest level of the MacArthur Award.
-marshel@cc.usu.edu