The Army Reserve Officer Training Corps unit at UND has been named the best unit in its brigade, which includes ROTC units at colleges and universities in a 10-state region.
"It's a UND program that's been declared better than comparable programs in 10 states, all of them with populations bigger than ours and institutions larger than ours," said Albert Berger, chairman of the University Senate's ROTC oversight committee.
Brigade officers will be at UND on Tuesday to present the 150 UND Army ROTC cadets and their cadre of officers with the MacArthur Award, given annually to the best units in eight regions.
First Lt. Scott Reed, one of the UND ROTC officers, said it's the first time the unit has received the award. Other states in the region are Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.
"The cadets here are doing an outstanding job," Reed said. "They put in a lot of time and effort and make a lot of sacrifices. There is a lot more asked of them than is asked of the average college student, and it's nice to see that all that hard work has paid off."
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Reed is a 2006 graduate of the UND Army ROTC program.
"We had a good, sound program then," he said, "but it's really been an honor to come back here to work."
An important part of the Army ROTC program at UND is helicopter flight training, the only program of its kind in the country.
UND also has an Air Force ROTC unit. "Both units produce quality officers at graduation," Berger said.
Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send e-mail to chaga@gfherald.com .
