Naval Science Instructor Mark Boesch received the telephone call from the Area 9 Manager, Commander Merv Dial, announcing Cocke County had won the Most Outstanding Unit (MOU) award for the 10-state area.  This is the second MOU award for Cocke County in three years.

 It is the second most prestigious award in Navy JROTC; second in prestige only to the Navy League Most Outstanding Unit award, which is awarded to the best NJROTC unit in the entire country.   As a matter of fact, winning the Area 9 MOU award places Cocke County in the running for the best unit in America.

"I was over whelmed," stated Crystal Haney, the unit's Executive Officer.  I thought going to the National Championships was an honor, but this is even bigger!  Participation in the Nationals only graded us on our competitive skills for drill, academics, and athletics.  This MOU award is presented due to the overall excellence of our entire program.

"Earlier this year we were inspected on all our administrative procedures, our supply storeroom, our academic progress, and the overall health of the NJROTC program at Cocke County. It includes our community service hours, our cadet's attendance rates and our graduation rates. We blew the inspectors away. MOU is a much better indication on how well a JROTC unit is performing than appearing in the Nationals."

Currently, 632 Navy JROTC units are in existence across the country.  Being named the 6th best Navy JROTC unit in the country places Cocke County in the Top 1 percent nationally; a very elite ranking.

"We compete against JROTC units that are much larger and much older than us," states Mike Poindexter, the unit's Executive Assistant Officer.  "There are units with over 400-plus cadets that have never won a MOU award. There are units over 30 years in age that have never won this award. We did it twice in three years with a cadet population of about 110 each year. We are busy!!"

As the cadets close out the 2008-2009 school year, they can reflect on a very successful, though challenging year. Field trips to Washington, DC, Brunswick, Maine, Destin, Florida, Virginia Beach, Virginia; over 3,200 hours of documented community service; the Tennessee State Award of Excellence;  along with first place competition wins in two Sanctioned Drill Meets, and the Daniel Boone Invitational meet; and of course the invitation to the National Championships mark this year as a triumph.