The University of North Georgia’s Corps of Cadets was honored recently as the 2018-19 recipient of the MacArthur Award for the U.S. Army Cadet Command’s 1st Brigade.
The 1st Brigade, also known as the Spartan Brigade, is made up of the nation’s six senior military colleges and four junior military colleges, a list that includes Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Military College. The award is based on a combination of the achievement of the school’s commissioning mission, the performance of its cadets, its standing on the U.S. Army Cadet Command’s National Order of Merit List (OML), its cadet retention rate, and results of the Ranger Challenge competition. UNG’s Corps of Cadets has some 752 members for fall 2019 and commissioned 103 second lieutenants during the 2018-19 academic year.
The awards, presented by Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation since 1989, recognize the ideals of “duty, honor and country” as advocated by MacArthur, who commanded the southwest Pacific in World War II and oversaw the successful allied occupation of postwar Japan.
“UNG best exemplified the 1st Brigade’s mission to recruit, educate, develop, and inspire senior ROTC cadets so that we may commission officers of character for the total Army,” said Col. Joshua Wright, professor of military science at UNG. “I’m most proud of this accomplishment because it reflects on the quality of our cadets, and is representative of the strong partnerships we have across the university. I’m very grateful for the support of UNG’s faculty, staff and alumni because they help our cadets to achieve at the highest levels.”
UNG’s Ranger Challenge Team finished third overall out of 49 at the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition earlier this year, and first among ROTC teams for the second straight year. Later this month the team will take part in the Spartan Ranger Challenge as defending champions of the brigade-level event with hopes to make a third consecutive appearance at Sandhurst.
“This national recognition as the number-one ROTC program among senior military colleges underscores the long-standing reputation for excellence that UNG’s Corps of Cadets has earned,” said UNG President Bonita Jacobs. “As UNG continues to set records for the number of second lieutenants that we commission, the quality of our cadets remains among the best in the nation.”
