ROTC hits the mark in competition

For Eastern's ROTC program, summer offered no off-season. Instead of lounging on a beach, the cadets spent most of their summer in Washington competing with other schools.This was displayed when Eastern finished among the best schools in the country in the 2007 Leadership Development and Assessment Course, or LDAC, in Fort Lewis, Wash.

Eastern tied for first in rifle marksmanship, tied for second in peer evaluations, placed 13th in army physical fitness and 23rd in land navigation. Eastern also earned an excellent rating in overall leadership, finishing 19th, said Lt. Col. Christopher Holly. Eastern competes in the Eastern region, which consists of 132 institutions.

"That's pretty good considering we're going up against some big schools," said Holly of the scores. "We were up against UK; killed them."

Holly said there are approximately 3800 ROTC cadets in the nation and this course is something every cadet must complete between their junior and senior years to determine how each cadet in the nation will be ranked numerically.

Holly said the cadets' GPA coupled with their leadership course scores will determine their rank on the National Order of Merits.

Holly said the course serves a lot of purposes, such as preparing the cadets for various types of situations.

In addition to the categories Eastern ranked high in, the cadets competed in squad and platoon tactics and field leadership.

This included forcing students into very complex situations in which they had to lead.

"It's basically field problems without an answer," said Holly.

The process lasted five weeks and pushed the students hard, not giving them much time to rest.

"It's pretty grueling," Holly said. "[They] get up about 5 o'clock in the morning and they do physical training (all day)."

But Holly said the course determines if cadets will serve active duty and will give them the opportunity to form their own spot in the Army, rather than just doing what the Army tells them to do.

Holly said he did not know how the institution ranks nationally, but he said he is confident they did well.

"We're easily the best school in our brigade, which is Ohio and Kentucky," he said.

And he said he is proud of the work the cadets have put in, both out in the field and in the classroom.

"Each year they keep doing better," he said. "Hopefully, next year we will be even better and win first in everything.