Colonel Brent Clemmer, U.S. Army, commander – 7th ROTC Brigade, does an elbow bump with Dannelle Whiteside, APSU’s interim president, as CSM Shannon Adkins, U.S. Army, 7th ROTC Brigade, looks on
Colonel Brent Clemmer, U.S. Army, commander – 7th ROTC Brigade, presenting the ROTC Hall of Fame certificate to LTC Greg Lane, U.S. Army Reserve (Retired), APSU Army ROTC Cadet Success coordinator
Colonel Brent Clemmer, U.S. Army, commander – 7th ROTC Brigade, presenting the MacArthur Award plaque to LTC Mark Barton, U.S. Army, professor of military science, Austin Peay State University
Colonel Brent Clemmer, U.S. Army, commander – 7th ROTC Brigade, placing the MacArthur Award streamer on the APSU Army ROTC colors, held by MSG Marcus Gurule, U.S. Army, APSU Army ROTC senior military instructor
The U.S. Army recognized retired Lt. Col. Greg Lane’s achievements as a distinguished ROTC alumnus during the ceremony last Wednesday by awarding him the ROTC Hall of Fame certificate.
Lt. Col. Lane is a native of Chattanooga and is a 1977 graduate of Red Bank High School. His parents are Darwin and Joyce Lane.
Lt. Col. Lane has served at Austin Peay since 1991. From 1991-1993, he was an active-duty Army officer, and from 1994-2000, he served as an Army Reserve officer.
From 2000-2013, he served as an Army contractor as assistant professor of military science.
From 2014-now, he has been the program’s cadet success coordinator.
Lt. Col. Lane also taught in Austin Peay’s President’s Emerging Leaders Program from 2006-2012 and 2018-now.
In his Army career, Lt. Col. Lane had 12 years of active duty service and 12 years of Army Reserve service as an infantry officer. He served at Fort Benning, Fort Campbell, Fort Polk, Korea and Austin Peay ROTC.
As a reservist, he served at Austin Peay ROTC, Carlisle Barracks and the 100th Training Division.
Also during the ceremony, the U.S. Army awarded Austin Peay’s ROTC program the MacArthur Award, which recognizes the eight best ROTC programs in the country.
The MacArthur Award recognizes the eight schools, selected from among the 274 ROTC units nationwide, as the top programs in the country. This marks the eighth time the APSU program has earned the award in the last 26 years.
“If I have learned anything after serving the college for 23 plus years, it’s that the Army, and combat in general, is the ultimate team sport,” said Colonel Brent Clemmer, commander of the 7th Brigade of the U.S. Army Cadet Command. “No single service can achieve victory by itself.”
The awards, presented by U.S. Army Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, recognize the ideals of “duty, honor and country” as advocated by MacArthur. The award is based on a combination of the achievement of the school’s commissioning mission, its cadets’ performance and standing on the command’s National Order of Merit List and its cadet retention rate.
Austin Peay’s ROTC program is the top program in the brigade of five states (Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan) with 38 schools in the school year 2018-19. These schools include Vanderbilt University, University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, Ohio State University, Notre Dame, University of Indiana and University of Michigan.
“This streamer that was put on the colors of the APSU ROTC program is proof that this is in fact, a team sport,” Col. Clemmer said. “The secret to success is cooperation and teamwork and not going at it alone.”