For the second consecutive year, Campbell University’s renowned ROTC program has been named one of eight programs nationally to receive a MacArthur Award as one of the best in the nation.
The awards, presented by Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, recognize the ideals of “duty, honor and country” as advocated by MacArthur and are based on a combination of the achievement of the school’s commissioning mission, its cadets’ performance and standing on the command’s National Order of Merit List and its cadet retention rate. Campbell joins Penn State, Minnesota State, BYU, Florida Southern College, North Georgia, Ohio University and Washington on this year’s list.
Lt. Col. Eric Durrant, professor of military science at Campbell, called the University’s second consecutive MacArthur Award a “tremendous honor.”
“This award represents sustained excellence at the program level,” Durrant said. “This is very much a team recognition, not an individual award. This team includes our cadets, cadre, staff and the tremendous support that we get from Campbell University.”
Durrant said Campbell ROTC also benefits from its relationship with Fort Bragg, which allows the University to use world-class training facilities and offer experts to augment classroom instruction.
He added that, more than anything, the award represents the achievements of the program’s cadets.
“Our cadets are some of the greatest in the nation, boasting 10 distinguished military graduates,” he said. “It is the can-do attitude and hard work of our cadets — in the classroom, in the early mornings at physical training and out in the field conducting maneuvers — that sets our program apart from the other 274 ROTC programs in the nation. This MacArthur Award represents their achievements and represents the tremendous leadership potential for the next generation of Army Leaders.”
In addition to being recognized as one of the best in the nation, Campbell is also the largest traditional Army ROTC program in the nation, commissioning 54 second-lieutenants during over the last year.