Fishburne Color Guard and Drill teams bring home more trophies
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Fishburne Military School Army JROTC Color Guard and Drill Teams competed Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Liberty High School American Legion Drill meet in Bealeton, Virginia.
Like always the teams are up at 0400 in the morning and must travel over two hours to the competition site. This is the third meet of the year for the teams and we have always returned with hardware. This time we had three event winners. The Armed Exhibition Platoon drill team conducted the first ever two man two level lift during competition. Cadets Cochran and Morrison Rogers were both lifted off the floor. The base stood completely upright while Jacob Cochran spun the rifle with one hand and saluted with the other. The maneuver went off flawlessly.
The Hudgins Rifles was led by C/MAJ Patrick Guiffre received a third place trophy (several observers and competitors told the team members they were very impressed and that the FMS routine was their favorite. Hudgins’s Rifles’ received a third place trophy. The Color Guard led by C/SFC Harold McCoo again impressed all the judges and wooed the spectators with their precision and discipline.
The head judge (from the US Army’s 3rd Infantry (Old Guard),) told the team directly that he would have no problem with our Color Guard performing right next to his Color Guard. The team couldn’t have received a higher compliment. They tied for first place but lost the tie breaker.
To cap off the competition Cadet Platoon Sergeant Jacob Cochran placed second among over 100 competitors for the title of the individual knock out competition. He placed second overall bringing home a trophy and medal for his accomplishment. Although the Armed Regulation Platoon drill team did not place they were very competitive and c/LT Mousley did an excellent job on the routine hitting each command at the right place on the drill floor. C/LT Ben Lalor also did a very good job preparing and leading the Regulation Platoon during the inspection competition.
Also noteworthy was the performance by C/LT Jaycee Brooks and C/LT Ray Oram who provided outstanding leadership throughout the meet. The JROTC Staff and Color Guard and Drill Teams want to thank the families who traveled to the meet and provided exceptional support. Also American Legion Post 340 for sponsoring Fishburne by paying all meet registration fees.
The next meet will be held at Fishburne. We will host five other schools for the first time in school history; we hope to make it an annual event that will become a tradition.
