APSU ROTC program again named among nation's best

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – In 2014, Aaron Jumonville left Middle Tennessee State University and that school’s tennis team. He’d recently joined the Tennessee National Guard, and after going through basic training, he felt like he needed more of a challenge. A few months later, Jumonville enrolled at Austin Peay State University.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – In 2014, Aaron Jumonville left Middle Tennessee State University and that school’s tennis team. He’d recently joined the Tennessee National Guard, and after going through basic training, he felt like he needed more of a challenge. A few months later, Jumonville enrolled at Austin Peay State University.

“The ROTC program was something that drew me here because I knew it was good,” he said. “I didn’t know much about it, but once I got here and saw the things we get to do here in ROTC, it made me want to commit to it.”

Jumonville heard APSU had one of the best ROTC programs in the nation, and on Feb. 16, the U.S. Army Cadet Command confirmed these rumors when it awarded the Austin Peay program its seventh MacArthur Award. Each year, the award recognizes eight schools, selected from among the 275 senior Army ROTC units nationwide, as the top programs in the country.

The awards, presented by Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, recognize the ideals of “duty, honor and country” as advocated by MacArthur. The award is 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.

The recipients of this year’s General Douglas MacArthur Award, selected by their brigade commanders as the top-performing program, are:

• Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tenn., which represents 7th Brigade.
• Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va. which represents Cadet Command's 1st Brigade.
• University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt., which represents 2nd Brigade.
• University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wis., which represents 3rd Brigade.
• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., which represents 4th Brigade.
• University of Houston, Houston, Texas, which represents 5th Brigade.
• Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Ga., which represents 6th Brigade.
• University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore., is the repeat winner for 8th Brigade.

The U.S. Army Cadet Command is the largest single source of new officers for the Army, commissioning the majority of the Army’s new officers each year through the senior ROTC program.

For more information on APSU’s ROTC program, visit /rotc.