Teaching The Leaders Of Tomorrow

Weber State University was founded in Ogden, UT as Weber Stake Academy in 1889; like Weber County and the Weber River, the school was named after John Henry Weber, an early fur trader. In 1933, the academy was made a state junior college. Following World War II, the college outgrew its downtown campus and moved to the present site on the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains overlooking Ogden and the Great Salt Lake. Weber State College awarded its first baccalaureate degree in 1964. In 1991, the college became Weber State University, appropriately symbolizing its role as one of Utah*s premier public, undergraduate universities.

Army ROTC was first established at Weber State College in 1971 with offices located in Promontory Tower. Since that date, the ROTC program has expanded its role as part of the campus community. During the first year Weber College had 54 enrolled cadets in the ROTC program. The program commissioned its first two officers, Brent Tirrell (Armor) and Donald Anderton (Military Police) in March 1973 and later commissioned 7 more Second Lieutenants that year. In 1974 Weber College enrolled its first female cadets and in 1978 Joanne Mayberry (Military Intelligence) became the first female cadet to be commissioned in the US Army.

Additionally, in 1973 Weber College began teaching its first repelling class at Hill Air Force Base and later repelled off the stadium for the first time. Rappelling became a symbol of the ROTC program at the stadium and at basketball games. This tradition grew in 1978 when the ROTC began its yearly mountaineering training in Calleo, UT that included rappelling, mountain climbing, and wilderness survival training. In 1979 Weber College began offering winter warfare training that included ski-touring and winter survival training. This training was offered by the ROTC program to all students up until 1998 and has since been transitioned over to the Wilderness Recreation Center on campus. The program continued to grow as Weber College participated in its first Brigade Ranger Challenge competition in 1985 placing second.

Weber State has fielded one of the strongest ranger challenge teams in the brigade ever since. In 1986 Weber College participated in the first Wasatch Thunder Exercise (Spring Field Training Exercise) that also included Utah State, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University.

In 1998 The ROTC departments at Weber State University and Utah State University were combined. These two great institutions have combined to make one of the best ROTC programs in the Western Region. In 2001 and again in 2004 Weber State won the MacArthur Award which recognizes the best program in the Western Region. Continuing its tradition of excellence Weber State was recognized as one of the top 15% of all Army ROTC program in the nation in 2005 and in 2006. In 2005 Weber State also won the Founders and Patriots of America Award for the most outstanding Army ROTC unit in the country. Finally, in 2006 Weber State was selected as the b est Battalion in the 14th Brigade. Since 1971 Weber State Army ROTC has commissioned over 600 cadets into the US Army.
Continuing and growing, the Weber State ROTC delivers the avenues of career growth for the young men and women determined to accept it.