Army ROTC
By Cadet Claudia Kilgore '25
The New River Battalion (NRB), home of Virginia Tech’s Army ROTC, maintains the highest standards of excellence which translates into cadets demonstrating the highest levels of achievement at the national level and in organic training. For example, with a semester-long process of planning, the NRB staff and leadership executed another successful 4-day Spring Field Training Exercise (FTX) at Ft. Pickett, Virginia. Cadets participated in numerous tactical challenges including tactical situational training exercise lanes, land navigation, weapons familiarization and employment, medical training, and a ruck march. This included a unique opportunity for the MS-IIIs to get hands-on practice with the obstacle course, preparing them for success during Advanced Camp 2025 at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. This is just one example of why we were selected for the second year in a row as the first place Army ROTC program in the country out of 274!
Our cadets consistently model the role of selfless servant. Over this past winter break, one unexpectedly encountered a medical emergency that resulted in her stepping in to save someone’s life. Cadet Georgia Costain '25, a senior visiting the North Shore of Hawaii, participated in a deep-sea diving tour. During the tour, the guide was bitten by a shark. Costain exited the water to find a scene of barely controlled chaos on their boat and immediately took control of the situation and applied her previous medical training to provide treatment with a makeshift tourniquet to slow bleeding prior to arrival of EMS. “It was completely unexpected,” Costain said. “I saw that most people froze in panic at the bow. I knew I had to act quickly while the captain untied the lines.” Costain remarked on how her medical Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training in the Corps of Cadets and Army ROTC helped her during this crisis.
Another performance indicator that separates the NRB from other Army ROTC programs is our unrivaled capacity to send cadets to challenging individual training courses and see them complete those courses successfully. We send more cadets to summer training opportunities than any other program in the nation and have more school badges on cadets’ chests than any other program, period. However, it is uncommon for these opportunities to be completed during the school year with the other competing requirements. First-year cadet Jacob Benn '28 graduated from Air Assault School at Ft. Benning, Georgia over spring break. He is the first true freshman from our program to do so! “My experience was great, and it felt like second nature,” Benn said. “We worked together as a team and pushed each other, no matter the rank.” He joined the ranks of seven cadets to complete Air Assault School during this academic year!
Our cadre also work tirelessly to lead, train, and develop our cadets to be leaders of the future that we can all entrust our sons and daughters to, and no one has done that longer than our VT-employed administrative and program specialist, Ms. Debra Harry. Ms. Harry faithfully shepherded the VT Army ROTC for 34 years as of this spring. This May, she will surpass an impressive feat by commissioning over 2,000 second lieutenants! Her efforts and dedication are critical to the culture of excellence we see in the NRB every day. Her contributions were noted by Tim Sands, president of Virginia Tech, this April with the awarding of one of only five annual President’s Awards for Excellence for outstanding university employees. Thank you, Ms. Harry, and congratulations!