BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School Army JROTC Indian Battalion received 97 points out of 100 possible points in JROTC’s program accreditation, earning the Army’s highest JROTC rating and maintaining designation as a Gold Star Honor Unit with Distinction.
JROTC adviser Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hall said the cadets were evaluated by the U.S. Army Cadet Command 6th Brigade in a continuous improvement briefing, a service-learning project briefing, cadet portfolios and interviews, and the unit’s competition color guard.
Hall added that the evaluation included a battalion inspection by Army recruiter Sergeant First Class Josh Paris.
“He came in the week before and did a battalion in-ranks inspection where he checked them in uniforms, and they had to answer general knowledge questions about JROTC,” Hall said, adding that the queries included questions about Army ranks, colors on military maps, and other basic knowledge.
Hall said many of the evaluations were extensive.
“One example is the competition color guard is evaluated in completing 43 separate movements to standard,” he told the school’s faculty in an email.
The two briefings the cadets presented to Arthur Curry from 6th Brigade incorporated other JROTC curriculum activities, including time management, public speaking, goal setting, thinking maps, and meeting conduct.
Hall said earning above 95 points entitles the Indian Battalion Cadets to maintain their Honor Unit with Distinction Gold Star for the next three years as long as they continue participating in activities like color guards and competitive meets.
Hall said the continuous improvement briefing, which was led by Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Trista Harrison, Cadet Second Lieutenant Reagan Sames, and Cadet Command Sergeant Major Emily McFarland, centered around the Cadet Fitness Challenge.
“The Cadet Challenge consists of pushups, curl-ups, a one-mile run, a shuttle run, and a flexibility test,” he said. “They took that over three months to show improvement each month.”
Cadet Captain Kristofer Neibauer led the service-learning briefing, which explained the battalion’s historical presentations during Veteran’s Day ceremonies at the high school and elementary school.
“They did historical vignettes of all the different wars that America’s been in,” Hall said. “They picked a character from each war that they highlighted and learned about them, with a lot of focus on women’s roles. In some of the wars, like the American Revolution as an example, they studied Molly Pitcher, a historical figure that took the role of her husband, who was injured in a battle in the American Revolution on the cannon.”
Hall added that for the Civil War, cadets highlighted Mary Edwards Walker, the U.S. Army’s first female surgeon, a prisoner of war, and the only female recipient of the Medal of Honor.
