Members of the University’s ROTC program sat down with The News-Letter this week to talk about winning the 2013 MacArthur Award last month.
The MacArthur Award recognizes the top ROTC programs in the country. Hopkins was chosen on Feb. 28 as the best in its brigade out of 38 programs in the mid-atlantic region.
“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,” the website for the award states.
The process is highly competitive.
“The nation’s divided up into eight different brigades, so all the schools that have ROTC programs are in one of these eight brigades. Each year, they look inside each brigade and rank all the programs. So Hopkins came out as number one for fourth brigade,” senior Andrew Frazier said.
Frazier, the cadet battalion commander, contends that the Hopkins program earned the distinction by having the most dedicated cadets.
“It was a combination of our class’s ranking at our summer course, the Leader Development and Assessment course and cadets putting in a lot of extra time throughout the week,” Frazier said. “They do extra sessions with their cadre members as well as the seniors to work through tactics, and basically they put in a lot of extra time to do it, to be above and beyond what was called for, for what a normal program would do,” he added.
Senior Ally Tanzola, the battalion’s public affairs officer, agrees that the Hopkins cadets deserved the honor for their exceptional merit.
“I think one of the main reasons we got it is because Hopkins sets the bar above what is expected of a normal cadet at every level, and we push every single cadet to exceed even our own standards. So in addition to putting in a lot of extra time, which every single member of the battalion really does, we’re also just constantly pushing ourselves to be the national cadet standard, and to exceed our own standards as well,” Tanzola said.
The ROTC program consists of a curriculum students choose to take alongside their regular academic classes.
“I’m the cadet battalion commander, so I’m in charge of the entire unit, which spans Hopkins, University of Baltimore, Maryland Institute College of Art, Stevenson University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County,” Frazier said. “It’s about 80 cadets total, with about six staff members that work to help support us. We do P.T. [physical training] three times a week, and then [a] two to three hour lab in addition to a two hour class every week, and then field exercise one weekend every semester.”
Cadets at Hopkins have a rigorous schedule, in addition to the normal academic load.
On Mondays, the cadets have physical training from 6-7 a.m., followed by regular classes and homework.
“These sessions are lead by the juniors and put cadets through a rigorous workout that on different days targets muscular endurance, muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance,” Frazier said. “Workouts can include any combination of running up to three miles, completing sets of stadiums on Homewood Field, several iterations of pushups, situps, squats and pull-ups or circuit workouts in the Rec Center.”
On Tuesdays, cadets either train by themselves or attend a CrossFit class at the O’Connor Recreation Center. Some cadets also have their mandatory two hour ROTC class in the evening, to which they are required to wear their Army Combat Uniform (ACU).
Cadets attend physical training again on Wednesdays. Afterwards, the seniors spend up to two hours planning the next week’s training.
Thursdays are the busiest days for cadets. After classes, all the schools in the battalion meet at the ROTC building for the weekly Leadership Lab. All schools in the battalion are present for the lab.
“Each week, freshman, sophomores and juniors are placed in leadership positions by the seniors who plan the training events. This training can include Land Navigation, Medical Skills and Tactics. The labs are designed to place cadets in stressful scenarios, forcing them to analyze the situation, develop a plan, make a decision and execute their plan in order to accomplish the mission,” Frazier said.
The labs are usually two to three hours but can last up to five hours if the lab is located off site at a nearby military facility.
“Lab training teaches cadets the nuances of leadership and allows them to continuously apply their skills and refine their abilities,” Frazier said. “Juniors and seniors typically stay after lab to talk about how the juniors did in their leadership positions, identify what went well and what can be done better next time. These sessions can last up to an hour.”
On Fridays, cadets have their last physical training session of the week. Over the weekend, they meet to plan activities for the next week and practice writing “operations orders,” the format of military plans. Seniors also offer their help and guidance to the underclassmen who approach them.
“Once a semester, the Battalion conducts a weekend long training exercise where cadets sleep out in the woods, practice Land Navigation and conduct missions that test their planning skills, leadership abilities and tactical knowledge,” Frazier said.
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