Fishburne Keeps Gold Star! Col. Hunt Recaps the Big Day…
Background: As many of you know JROTC was established at FMS in February 1919 and the JROTC formal inspection began in 1926. The formal inspection is conducted triennially. What that means is that if you achieve less than “Honor Unit with Distinction” you hold that rating for a period of three years. The maximum score is 600 points. There are three ratings a unit can receive: Meritorious Unit (MU) 480/80%, Honor Unit (HU) 540/90% and Honor Unit with Distinction (HUD) 576/96% or higher). Based on Mr. Moroney’s ‘President of the Board of Trustees Report,’ FMS has been an “Honor Unit with Distinction” except on two occasions which we were an “Honor Unit.” The last time was sometime in the 1970s.
It is clear to all the 4th Brigade SAIs that the scoring is getting tougher every cycle. The Brigade average this year is 584.Our highest score in school history was in 2004 which we received a 596.6/99.4, losing only a total of 3.4 total points. Two of those points came from the cadet staff briefing 98/100. I call tell you this year’s cadet effort was as good as in any of the past RFIs. It was the first time that we used leather versus plastic shoes. All the other schools use pre-shined shoes. That point alone made it a tougher year to prepare for the RFI.
This year we achieved a score of 592.3/98.7% on the RFI. If you combine this score with our unit activities score which was 400/400, we achieved a total score of 992.3/1000 points. Mr. Jenkins (4th Bde Evaluator) stated it was the highest score of the 106 units that the Brigade has evaluated this inspection cycle. The highlight of the inspection was the staff briefing. Looking back on the past five (15 Years) RFIs, this was the highest score for a cadet staff. Mr. Jenkins (4th Bde Evaluator) said “the briefing was flawless.” The cadet staff scored 99/100 points. There are no 100s ever given. Ours was the highest score achievable and we were the only one of the 106 schools who received a score of 99. The cadets that were part of the staff briefing were: Richer, Tisdelle, Tattersall, Smith, Guimond, Sliger, Bunce, Drumm, Burkard, and Mullins. The VMI SROTC inspectors commented that are cadets look better than some of the VMI cadets. They were clearly impressed by our cadets and their preparation and attitude. Mr. Jenkins said this is a great looking outfit, they are as sharp as tack!
I ask all faculty and staff to take time to congratulate the corps on an outstanding job at this year’s RFI. There were five cadets that received a VMI Army ROTC coin for being rated the best in their unit. A Company- Anderson, B Company- Davenport, C Company – Cochran Band Company-McMullen and Staff/CG- Green. Some cadets that participated in multiple areas were; Ulrich– A Co 1SG, Acting Hudgins Drill Team Commander (Patrick Guiffre was out for an ear operation), member of the curriculum knowledge committee. Kinniburgh– Band Squad Leader, Regulation Drill Team Commander, Member of the Curriculum Knowledge Committee. Guimond– Staff Briefing, Battalion S3, Member of the Curriculum Knowledge Committee. Tisdelle- Staff Briefing, Battalion XO, Member of the Curriculum Knowledge Committee. Davenport– Staff Briefing (Uniform Example), C Co Squad Leader, and Hudgins Drill Team. Owens-Wargo– C Co Squad Leader, Staff Briefing (Uniform Example), and Hudgins Drill Team. Tattersall- Staff Briefing, Battalion S1, and Member of Curriculum Knowledge Committee. Burkard– Staff Briefing, Battalion SGM, and Member of Curriculum Knowledge Committee.
I would like to thank the FMS Faculty and Staff for there support throughout the preparation process. I would like to extend special thanks to LTC Corbin and his entire staff, Col Sedr, MSgt Jones, Mr. Selkow, MAJ Ingersoll, Mr. Catherwood, Mrs. Jones, and Ms. Morgan.
Very Respectfully,
LTC Hunt
1SG Hensley
MSG Morton
