12/15/95

Bob Lowry (lowrygr@mail.auburn.edu)

AUBURN'S ARMY ROTC UNIT WINS REGIONAL MACARTHUR AWARD

AUBURN -- Auburn University's Army ROTC program has captured the 1995 regional MacArthur Award, beating out units from more than 90 other colleges and universities.

"The MacArthur Award is awarded annually to recognize Cadet Command's outstanding battalions for exemplary performance in production and training," said Maj. Gen. James Lyle, commanding general of the Army Cadet Command.

Only the top 10 percent of the nation's ROTC units meet the screening criteria for consideration for the MacArthur Award, says Lt. Col. Robert Webb, commandant of cadets at AU.

"Auburn's ROTC strength has been its quality," says Webb. "On average, we commission an officer who is likely to stand in the top 25 percent nationally. We manage to produce the numbers that the Army requires. Right now we are targeted on 25 new Army lieutenants each year."

The MacArthur award is made based on a scoring system which measures the number of cadets commissioned and number of juniors who enroll in the advance officer commissioning program. Retention is also evaluated and compared to national averages for Army ROTC. Training is measured by the performance of cadets who attend the six-week ROTC Advanced Camp each summer. Cadets receive a series of evaluations (rifle marksmanship, land navigation, physical fitness test, tactical leadership evaluations, and general leadership ability). These score are averaged for each university and are used to develop points for the MacArthur competition.

Finally, all cadets as they near graduation, are evaluated by a national panel of officers who assign each cadet an Order of Merit Score. The average OMS for the university is used in the competition. These scores are the grade for each individual that determine if he or she is offered an active duty appointment and what competitive branch opportunities each individual has.

The national award -- sponsored by the Norfolk, Va.-based MacArthur Foundation -- went to North Georgia College.

The nation's nearly 300 ROTC institutions are divided into three regions. AU is in the Second Region, which is headquartered at Fort Knox, Ky., and covers an area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

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CONTACT: Webb, 334/844-5656 (webbrof@mail.auburn.edu)