Latest news with #U.S.ArmyCadetCommand
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Yahoo
Fort Benning hosts inaugural Army JROTC National Drone Championship
FORT BENNING, Ga. () — The primary goal of JROTC programs is to make its cadets into standup citizens, but it's also focused on helping students gain skills they might use professionally after high school. One of those skills? Piloting drones. This weekend, the Inaugural Army JROTC National Drone Championship is taking place on post at Fort Benning, which serves as an Army proponent for human-machine integration and robotics. Although a military wide JROTC drone competition took place last year, this is the first Army JROTC-specific championship. Roughly 145 students from 40 different schools nationwide—including as far away as American Samoa—were at Lawson Army Airfield Friday night for the event's opening ceremony. The two-day competition tests students on their drone piloting capabilities, teamwork and more. Cadets will compete in multiple events before winners are named Saturday evening. Senior leaders at the event said it is a great opportunity to show high schoolers what the Army is like and showcase their hard work using technology similar to what they might see if they choose military careers. 'It's just amazing to see the technical aspect and how proficient these young people have become flying these drones,' said Command Sgt. Maj. Roy Young, who is the head of U.S. Army Cadet Command, which includes 270 host programs at universities nationwide, as well as 1,800 JROTC programs. U.S. Army partnership with local university could speed up tech development Cadets were grateful to be at the competition, which was in part put on by the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. 'It means a lot to us because, you know, not everybody gets the opportunity that we have to deal with this technology, come out to these competitions and do these things that we're doing,' said Braden John, from Timberland High School in St. Stephen, S.C. Minutes before, his team had skillfully piloted their drone through a course during a practice run. They said they had only spent about the past five months working with the technology. Another team was similarly grateful to be representing their school at the national level. 'It took a lot for us to get here. We had to—we had to put a lot of effort and work into it, so it means a lot to us,' said senior Evan Elekima from Mattie T. Blount High School in Prichard, Ala. The JROTC National Drone Championship comes almost one year after Fort Benning, then Fort Moore, hosted the inaugural Army Drone competition in May 2024. It also comes one month after the post hosted an open house for the Maneuver Innovation Lab, where local university students and soldiers will work together to improve Army technology, including drone capabilities and training. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
UVM Army ROTC named best program in the Northeast: What schools they beat out to win
BURLINGTON ― The University of Vermont's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program has been recognized as the best in the Northeast, according to a community announcement. The program has won the 2023-2024 General Douglas MacArthur Award for Leadership. This marks the third time in the last decade that UVM ROTC has received this honor. 'This is a great honor for this program and our cadets,' said Lt. Col. Travis McCracken, professor of military science at UVM ROTC. 'They are exceptional young adults that will undoubtedly go on to achieve great success in the U.S. Army.' The award is given to the top ROTC program in the Northeast region of the U.S. Army Cadet Command, which is divided into nine regions with 275 host programs nationwide. The Northeast region includes 42 host universities, among them all Ivy League schools and other elite institutions. 'I'm so proud of these cadets. They work tirelessly to perfect their craft as Army leaders,' said Master Sgt. Aaron Peters, senior military science instructor at UVM ROTC. 'They will be second lieutenants soon enough, and I'm proud to say that we have some of the best.' Selection for the award is based on several factors, including the school's commissioning mission, cadet grade-point average, standing on the command's National Order of Merit List, retention rates, Ranger Challenge competitions, Army training and fitness, and the brigade commander's assessment and evaluation of the overall program. UVM ROTC is now a finalist among the other eight regional winners for the best program in the United States. Col. Allen Kehoe, 2nd Brigade Commander of the U.S. Army Cadet Command, will present the award to UVM Interim President Patricia Prelock at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 3, at the University of Vermont's Alumni House, Silver Pavilion, 61 Summit St., Burlington. RSVPs are not required but appreciated. To RSVP, contact Valerie Pallotta at This story was created by reporter Beth McDermott, bmcdermott1@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: University of Vermont's Army ROTC named best program in Northeast
