The ‘Glass Guard’ JROTC drill team dominated regional competition, earning the overall first place title and first place awards in four of six competitive categories at the 2014 Southwest Virginia Regional Precision Military Drill Competition at William Byrd High School in Vinton.
Glass Guard secured first place trophies for Color Guard, Inspection, Regulation Drill, and Armed Regulation Drill categories. They also brought home a second place trophy for Exhibition Drill and third place for Armed Exhibition Drill.
“It was a long day of competition,” said team coach, Senior Mater Sgt. Donald Dougherty. “Our team remained focused and represented Glass with distinction,” In addition to William Byrd, the team faced cadets from Franklin County, Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools.
“We’ve had a tough time with practice this year because of snow days and a lack of practice facility access, but we really turned up the intensity last week and managed to pull it off,” said ranking Glass Guard cadet and Corps Commander, Cadet Lt. Col. Nathaniel Howard.
Inspection team leader Cadet Staff Sgt. Jennifer Ayala said her cadets were up against well-equipped competition and judges. “You can tell everyone’s been training hard, and our inspection judges were also armed up,” she said.
Army and Air Force soldiers and airmen serve as judges and rate cadets on a variety of criteria ranging from general Air Force knowledge to current events during their inspection, according to event host Senior Master Sgt. Paul Richardson of William Byrd H.S. “This is a pretty intense event but the cadets from all schools all stepped up to the challenge,” he said.
Next up for Glass Guard is the Virginia State AFJROTC championships in Mechanicsville, VA on April 26th. Howard and his team have designs on a formidable goal—the State Championship for the fifth consecutive year. “We want one for the thumb,” he said, referring to his team’s quest for an unprecedented fifth championship ring.