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Cole Anderson is presented with a sabre for being named the top cadet in his summer military training class.
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Cole and Alexis Anderson
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WIU LEJA Major, ROTC Cadet Named Leadership Excellence Award Winner at Summer Training

August 24, 2022

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MACOMB, IL – First among 600 – that is how senior Western Illinois University School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration major and ROTC Cadet Cole Anderson finished during his summer leadership training at Fort Knox, KY.

Anderson, of Bismarck, IL, received the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Leadership Excellence Award, meaning he was the top cadet at his training session, held July 15-Aug. 18. Over 7,000 cadets attended 11 sessions of the training over the summer, with 11 AUSA top cadet award winners named.

"My platoon cadre walked up to me and my Captain asked, 'Has anyone told you yet,' and then he told me I was named the number one cadet for my regiment," Anderson said. "I was shocked – there were a lot of knowledgeable and skilled cadets in my platoon alone, so it was humbling and it is an honor to have received this award."

The summer training is for ROTC Cadets across the country who are between their third and fourth year in ROTC. Anderson said Cadet Summer Training (CST) is designed to assess the leadership performance and potential of ROTC cadets, as well as their competence performing basic soldier skills.

"We conducted land navigation training for a couple days about a week into the training cycle," Anderson said. "We had a written test and practical exercises. For the practical exercises, we had to find at least one of two points at night and four of five points during the day, and we took an Army combat fitness test. Then we had basic rifle marksmanship training and used a rappelling tower, and there was a field leader reaction course, where we were required to navigate various obstacles with our squads."

Anderson said the situational training exercises (STX) were conducted on the squad level, and were prior to the final training events.

"The field training exercises (FTX) followed the STX lanes, and we finished our training with a 12-mile ruck march back to our barracks," he said. "Furthermore, during the FTX lanes, cadets conducted missions such as ambushes, raids and attacks in order to test their leadership abilities in stressful situations."

It was after those exercises were over when Anderson learned he had topped the training class.

The graduation ceremony was the 11th Regiment Advanced Camp Graduation Ceremony. Anderson's award was presented by the Fort Knox Chapter of the Association of the United States Army. During the training, he was assigned to the 4th Platoon, Charlie Company, 11th Regiment.

In addition to this summer's honors, Anderson was named the top cadet in WIU's Military Science program for the 2021-22 academic year. He also works part-time as a security officer with Go West Transit in Macomb, where he was named security officer of the year and was recently promoted to master sergeant.

Anderson will graduate from WIU in May 2023, and plans to commission into the U.S. Army Reserves as an officer, and begin his career as a police officer. He hopes to spend his final semester at WIU as an intern with the Illinois State Police.

His wife, Alexis, is a senior nursing major at Western, and the couple hopes to move closer to their Vermillion County hometown after graduation to begin their careers.

For more information about the LEJA program at WIU, visit wiu.edu/LEJA. For more information about the ROTC program at WIU, visit wiu.edu/ROTC.

Posted By: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing