ROTC Recognized Best In US

Bridget Geiran, Tower Staff
February 17, 2012
Filed under News

The Hoya Battalion, the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program that includes the Catholic University platoon, was honored as the top Army ROTC program in the United States. The Battalion, given the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America National Outstanding ROTC Unit Award in association with US Army Command, was rated highest out of 272 Senior ROTC programs in the nation. The CUA Platoon is made up of 23 Catholic University cadets.

The Hoya Battalion, although named for the Georgetown mascot, includes cadets from the Catholic University as well as American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University and The Institute for World Politics. The honor is awarded based on progression rates, performance, battalion mission, and individual cadet rankings for the 2010-2011 school year. Cadets are evaluated based on their LDAC scores, GPAs, Extracurricular activities, etc. The Hoya Battalion has the top cadets in the country.  Runners up for the award were University of San Francisco and Northern Arizona University.

“We are greatly honored to be chosen to receive this award, as it is a testament of all the arduous work that our cadets put forth in their academic and military pursuits,” said Col. Gregory Bendewald, professor of military science at Georgetown, in a press release.

The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America is a civilian organization whose members are the direct descendants of American founders and revolutionaries. The organization presents several annual awards to units of the National Guard and ROTC programs.

The Hoya Battalion is one of America’s oldest and proudest battalions and has commissioned brave Americans for over 220 years. In this time, the battalion has commissioned over 4,100 officers.

“It’s a highly competitive award. We’ve been presenting these awards for at least 50 years,” said Ray Maxon, Deputy Secretary General of the Order in a press release.

 This is the first time that the Hoya Battalion has achieved this honor, which is presented in partnership with the United States Army Cadet Command. The award ceremony is expected to be held in the spring.