Cougar Battalion has awards ceremony

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    By Andrea Candrian

    Cadets stood tall as they saluted the American flag Thursday, March 3, at the 2003 Cougar Battalion Awards Ceremony in the Varsity Theater.

    The battalion”s motto of “Service First” was represented as cadets from the ROTC were presented awards based on academics, athletics and leadership.

    The battalion includes cadets from BYU, Southern Utah University and UVSC.

    The ceremony acts as the awards portion for the end of the semester to go along with commencement and graduation, said Captain Noel Namauu.

    The most prestigious award is the General Marshall Award. It went to a student at SUU.

    Tyler Jensen was presented with the most prominent BYU award, the General Mormon Award.

    “A lot of the awards are based on spot reports, which is basically when someone turns in a piece of paper saying you did something above and beyond your duties,” said Eric Becker, 19, a freshman from Highland, majoring in neuroscience, and a cadet in the ROTC.

    Major General Craig Larson was the keynote speaker at the ceremony and told cadets they should be proud of what they are doing.

    “You can all feel great and proud to receive these awards,” Larson said. “But I suspect you are all concerned about the future and what”s going on in Iraq. These are not easy times as a cadet at BYU. As an ROTC cadet, you will be among the most respected army in the world today. The awards given out today are an indication that the nation”s future will be in the hands of good leaders.”

    Many people fighting in the war are not any older than the cadets at BYU, he said. The world will remain a dangerous place and the ROTC cadets will be the ones to aid in resolving human suffering.

    Cadet Andrew Raymond, 24, a junior from Lakewood, Wash., majoring in chemistry, said the awards help to strengthen the ROTC.

    “It helps a lot with camaraderie,” he said. “Everyone can see how everyone”s been doing throughout the semester. It”s a way to get recognition for things you do throughout the year.”

    Cadet Deborah Gatrell, 24, a senior majoring in social science teaching, agreed.

    “I think it”s nice to recognize accomplishments,” she said. “We don”t get a lot of that at BYU because it”s such a big university. But the ROTC is a pretty close-knit organization so it”s just nice to have that recognition that somebody cares that I”m doing a good job.”

    The awards ceremony takes place once a semester.

    Sergeant Sean Polwort was voted the best-looking cadre member by the cadets.

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