University of Guam Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Triton Warriors stand during the 2016 Spring Commencement Ceremony, where UOG recognized 20 Lieutenants commissioned by the program. UOG Army ROTC was recently awarded the prestigious MacArthur Award, recognizing it as one of the best Army ROTC programs in the country. This spring, UOG will also be commissioning 20 Lieutenants.

The University of Guam Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program was recently awarded the prestigious MacArthur Award, recognizing it as one of the best in the country.

Presented by the U.S. Army Cadet Command and the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation, the Award recognizes the values of “duty, honor, and country” as advocated by MacArthur.

Out of the 275 Army ROTC units nationwide, only eight are presented with the Award.

The U.S. Army Cadet Command select MacArthur award winners based on the academic abilities, military prowess, leadership capabilities, and physical fitness of its students. It also takes into consideration a university’s commissioning mission.

“This isn’t an award you can prepare for,” said LTC Jay A. Blakley, Professor of Military Science. “It was kind of done in silence without us knowing that we were competing for it. Just the normal course of business and outcomes from the program drove the benchmarks for the award.”

Each year, UOG Army ROTC is required to commission 12 Lieutenants. Last year, the program commissioned 20 Lieutenants, one of the largest classes in its history. Blakley said this Spring, they are on track to commission 16 Lieutenants students.

“It reflects well on the school, the program, and the cadets that entered the program at the time, as well as the cadre that are running it,” Blakely said. “There’s no way our program would do this well without the University’s support, especially when it comes to academics and some of those other performance measures that come into the equation that require University involvement.”

Masters of Public Administration student Richard Pizzaro said the values upheld by the Triton Warrior Battalion and its leadership cadre help develop the students both in and outside of the classroom.

“Loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity, and personal courage—those are just some of the values that our program instills in us,” he said. “These help us become leaders not just in the Army but in our communities.”

For more information on the UOG Army ROTC program, visit www.uog.edu/army-rotc-home.