On Saturday, November 18, the WHS JROTC program competed in the Drill and Color Guard competition at Linden High School.
Colonel Parker and First Sergeant Behnke lead the JROTC. First Sergeant instructs the drill teams while Colonel instructs the color guard teams.
Drill is competitive marching. Marching is used in the army to move soldiers from place to place in a disciplined and uniform fashion. The drill teams must follow their commander’s instructions for each movement. The JROTC uses drill to compete with other schools and decide which team marches most flawlessly. Two teams from WHS competed: mixed drill, consisting of students in LET (Leadership Education Training) 2, 3, and 4, and a LET 1 team. The numbers stands for the level of the curriculum.
The color guard is responsible for carrying national flags at events.
“You always have to have the American flag and the state flag. Then the other flag in the color guard would be the POW flag,” said Colonel Parker.
Along with flags, the color guard must present rifles. One person at the end of each line holds a rifle, while the flags are held in the middle. Not only do these teams compete, but they’re also present at ceremonies and parades. In a competition, Two teams are sent: unarmed and armed. The color guard is very similar to drill, in the sense that both teams are continuously marching.
Competitions start with the hosting school sending the competing schools a competition overview sheet and scorecards so that the teams can practice each area that will be graded. On the day of the competition, students must arrive at school and prepare their bus with the equipment needed.
“We get here at six in the morning, everybody is running around trying to get ready, and we get all of our equipment on the bus. Then we go to the school that we’re competing at, where we’ll have different times when different teams go on,” said cadet captain and senior Fiona Van Tassel.
The teams must undergo many training days to aim for a good day at the competition.
First Sergeant Behnke said, “We’ll rehearse up until the event that happens. For us, drill routines last no more than two to three minutes of about 17 to 25 facing movements, and then we’re graded against our peers for overall placing from one to three.”
Although none of the teams placed at this competition, the final competition of last year resulted in the mixed drill team getting second place. The JROTC’s next competition is on December 9 at Hillside High School. See Colonel Parker or First Sergeant Behnke for more information.
