UNH Army ROTC Receives Macarthur Award As Top Unit

Contact: Denise Hart
603-862-1462
UNH Media Relations

March 16, 2005



DURHAM, N.H.— The University of New Hampshire’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program (ROTC) has been recognized with a MacArthur Award as a top-performing unit for medium-sized schools.

The MacArthur Awards were instituted in 1989 to honor the top Army ROTC units from around the country, according to the executive director of the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, retired Marine Corps Col. William J. Davis.

“The awards recognize the individual units within the Army ROTC program that have achieved the standards that best represent the ideals of the watch words of ‘Duty- Honor- Country’ as practiced by General MacArthur,” Davis said.

‘This is a tremendous honor for our program,” notes Lt. Col. Harry Prantl, U.S. Army at the UNH Army ROTC. “It recognizes the outstanding performance of our cadets and the commitment that our department has to our cadets. It also recognizes the quality of cadets that are entering our program. We have been fortunate to attract the best scholar-athlete-leaders from New England high schools, the local National Guard and Army Reserve.”

The Army ROTC battalions selected for the awards were the most successful of the Commands’ 272 units in accomplishing their mission of training and commissioning the majority of the lieutenants entering the Army each year.

ROTC units are located at 272 colleges and universities throughout the country. Students at nearly 1,200 other institutions of higher learning also can participate in Army ROTC training through partnership agreements with nearby schools. Since the establishment of the program in 1916, more than 500,000 men and women have gone on to become Army officers through Army ROTC.