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- UT ARLINGTON ROTC PROGRAM TO COMMISSION 1,000TH CADET
Monday, December 11, 2006
UT ARLINGTON ROTC PROGRAM TO COMMISSION 1,000TH CADET, BECOMES NO. 1 BRIGADE IN TEXAS
The University of Texas at Arlington Department of Military Science will commission its one-thousandth cadet Saturday, Dec. 16, at its Fall 2006 Commissioning Ceremony, marking a significant milestone in the long history and lineage of the Maverick Battalion. The Ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. in the Rio Grande Ballroom of the E.H. Hereford University Center, 300 W. First St.
In another milestone, the Battalion is now the number one ranked ROTC Program in the state (out of 22 programs in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico) for overall performance (enrollment/retention, cadet rankings and performance, percentage of cadets who are commissioned) according to a report by the U.S. Army’s Cadet Command. Nationally, UT Arlington is ranked 28 out of 271 (The Citadel is ranked first).
UT Arlington started producing military leaders in 1902 when the University was known as Carlisle Military Academy. But it wasn’t until 1961—when the University was Arlington State College—that it could award ROTC graduates a commission from Congress (having become a 4-year institution two years earlier). “If you added the number of Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine, active, guard, reserve, mobilized, and even military civilians together, we equal less than 3 million,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Smith, admissions and scholarship officer for the military science department “This cadet—along with entire roster of graduates—will belong to a very elite group, less than one percent, of individuals dedicated to taking on the responsibility of guarding the freedoms of more than 300 million Americans.”
The commissioning culminates after a semester filled rigorous physical and mental training, which includes field training exercises, combat water survival training, and battle drill and squad tactic training every week throughout the semester.
Extracted from: UT ARLINGTON TODAY, Monday, December 11, 2006