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SSHS triumphs at annual drill competition
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Posted on Apr 21 2008
Saipan Southern High School bested four other battalions during this year’s 4th Annual Combined Drill Meet held Saturday at the Army Reserve Center.
Schools that participated in the event were Marianas High School, Kagman High School, Tinian High School, and Rota High School.
The drill meet consisted of six drill disciplines that included Unarmed Regulation, Armed Regulation, Color Guard Rifle, Color Guard Saber, Unarmed Fancy Drill and Armed Exhibition. Cadets practice daily and on weekends to gain a high level of coordination and expertise in all of these disciplines.
The most visible symbol of each High School JROTC program are their “Color Guard” Teams, which perform at numerous ceremonies and functions throughout the entire year.
LTC Robert Gay, director of Army Instruction–JROTC, said he “extremely proud of all the high school programs, their cadets and instructors.”
“Drill and ceremonies serve as the bedrock of discipline for all team related events and provide the foundation for professionalism and excellence in any organization, whether it be a military unit, a business or an athletic team,” Gay said.
Individually, SSHS won the Unarmed Regulation Event. KHS won the Armed Regulation and Color Guard Rifle Events. MHS won the Unarmed Fancy Drill and the Color Guard Saber Events. MHS also won the Armed Exhibition Event but this event was not included in the overall competition due to the lack of drill rifles available to all the schools.
“Next year, that will be changed as we are due to receive 45 drill rifles per school prior to the start of the academic year,” Gay said.
He said that all of the CNMI cadets performed in an outstanding manner.
“The level of competition was very high. Saipan Southern High School JROTC emerged as the overall winner, followed closely by Marianas and Kagman High Schools in a hotly contested contest,” he added.
The CNMI Military Ball is the next big event involving all of the high schools and the JROTC. This is scheduled to take place on May 10 at the Saipan World Resort. Kagman High School is hosting the event this year.
