APSU Army ROTC program honored with 2013-14 MacArthur Award

Fort Knox, KY – The U.S. Army Cadet Command has announced that Austin Peay State University’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) department has won one of eight MacArthur Awards for the school year 2013-2014.

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

The APSU program represents Cadet Command’s Seventh Brigade, which consists of the 38 senior Army ROTC programs in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky.

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.

Cadet Command and the MacArthur Foundation have given the awards annually since 1989.

The U.S. Army Cadet Command is responsible for commissioning more than 60 percent of the Army’s new officers each year through 275 host programs and more than 1,000 affiliated campuses nationwide. The Command is also responsible for conducting the Army Junior ROTC program at more than 1,700 high schools nationwide.