New River Battalion tops national ranking for second year
For the second year in a row, the New River Battalion has been named the nation’s top ROTC program by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The battalion, which includes Virginia Tech's and Radford University’s Army ROTC programs, is ranked No. 1 out of 274 programs. The Army ROTC is an elective that teaches students leadership skills as they prepare for service as U.S. Army officers.
The New River Battalion and Virginia Tech, which is the host institution for the award, were recognized with the Department of Defense ROTC and Educational Institution Partnership Excellence Award for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years. The award is given to outstanding ROTC units and host educational institutions from each military department and highlights outstanding performance, university support, and cadet achievements.
Col. Nathan Surrey, the Army ROTC department head and professor of military science at Virginia Tech, attributed the battalion’s success to the program’s cohesive culture.
“We have great leadership and superior talent,” Surrey said. "When you put those together, you set conditions to create a culture of excellence based on ironclad cohesion, high morale, and a sincere passion to win. When you visit our organization, you will see our cadre and cadets smile and having fun. That’s what it’s all about – enjoying what you do while achieving excellence.”
Among the accomplishments, Virginia Tech and the New River Battalion consistently surpass recruiting goals and commissioning mission, regularly achieve a 90 percent first-year student retention rate, and maintain an outstanding Order of Merit score that is higher than the national average. The score measures how cadets rank among peers in leadership, academics, and physical fitness.
Virginia Tech is a one of six senior military colleges in the nation. All members of the ROTC at Virginia Tech are members of the Corps of Cadets. During the 2022-23 academic year, two-thirds of incoming first-year cadets received an additional $8,000 as part of the Emerging Leader Scholarship program, which is provided by the corps.
Surrey credits the battalion's success to the New River Valley community.
“The community itself is wonderful,” he said. “It’s very pro-military and veteran heavy. So when you put those three things together, you get an outstanding end result, which is our mission statement, to commission officers of impeccable character and competence, capable of thriving in chaos as servant leaders, dedicated to lifelong service to our nation.”
