[1]BUIES CREEK, N.C. (BP)–The Campbell University Reserve Officer Training Corp has won the MacArthur Award as the top ROTC unit in the nation.
Campbell’s ROTC earned the honor following competition involving 270 schools in the large schools category.
The MacArthur Award is given jointly by the MacArthur Foundation in Norfolk, Va., and the commander of U.S. Army Cadet Command to the most outstanding ROTC battalion in the country. The award is named for General Douglas MacArthur, who died in 1964.
“This is a wonderful day for Campbell University,” said Norman A. Wiggins, president of the Baptist-affiliated college in Buies Creek, N.C. “I am pleased and proud of what this ROTC unit has accomplished. It is a model to the nation and other ROTC units, and it is also a model on this campus.”
Presenting the award to Wiggins was Col. Geoffrey G. Prosch, commander of the First Region (ROTC) at Fort Bragg, N.C.
“The outstanding leadership of the Campbell ROTC cadets resulted in the highest overall score in the large schools category, not only within First Region, but all of Cadet Command,” Prosch said. “The Campbell battalion is a benchmark for all other ROTC programs in the U.S. Army.”
[2]The Campbell ROTC program has been honored with the MacArthur Award five times since the award was established 11 years ago, including receiving the top award in the nation in 1989, the year the award was established.
The Campbell ROTC program has also been recognized three other times as the top ROTC unit among East Coast Army ROTC programs.
The Campbell battalion includes cadets from Methodist College, Fayetteville State University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, encompassing 113 cadets in the four schools.
Since 1973, the Campbell program has sent the Army 837 officers.
(BP) photo to be posted in the BP Photo Library. Photo title: ROTC RECEIVES AWARD.