By Joseph P Cirone

Naval Support Activity Washington Public Affairs

 WASHINGTON – Two teams from the Washington Navy Yard-based U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, sponsored by the National Capital Council of the Navy League of the United States, made history as each turned in a flawless color guard performance, earning them bragging rights among Sea Cadet and naval color guard throughout the National Capital Region. 

Naval Support Activity Washington (NSAW) hosted the eleventh annual Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) Color Guard Drill Meet on Saturday at the Washington Navy Yard, in celebration of the Navy’s birthday and the 210^th anniversary of the Yard’s establishment. The event was sponsored by the National Capital Council of the Navy League of the United States, an avid supporter of youth development programs and the sea services.

13 NJROTC color guard teams from schools in Maryland and Virginia; a Marine Corps Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) color guard team from Culpepper, Va. and two color guard teams from the Henry E. Mooberry Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, based at the Navy Yard, competed against each other for the right to present the colors at the Navy Birthday Ball in late October.

The competition was preceded by the presentation of colors and the singing of the National Anthem by NJROTC cadet Rachel Parsons of Manassas, Va.; the invocation and the welcoming remarks of Cdr. Phillip Raimondo, NSAW executive officer.

 

History made

 

The Annapolis High School (HS) NJROTC color guard team was the first to march on the grinder, located between the Navy Museum and the Display Ship USS Barry (DD 933). Other school teams followed in quick succession, approximately 15 minutes apart. Looking sharp in their modified Marine Corps uniforms, the MCJROTC team became the first non-NJROTC unit to enter the competition. The two Sea Cadet Corps teams also helped make history, when they took to the grinder as the first Sea Cadet units ever to take part in the competition.

Members of the Navy Ceremonial Guard served as judges for the competition, scoring quality and execution of the performance, as well as assessing penalty points for a variety of breaches, including uniform and equipment discrepancies. 

While the judges tallied the final scores, the Navy Ceremonial Guard Silent Drill Team entertained competitors, the audience and visitors to the Navy Yard, Museum and ship. “A bus load of people, attending a destroyer crew’s reunion, stopped by and watched the event. They enjoyed themselves,” according to retired Navy Capt. James Porter, senior naval science instructor at Osbourn Park HS in Manassas, Va. and coordinator of the competition.

 

Practice makes perfect

 

The Silent Drill Team’s performance helped divert the attention of competitors who were nervous and anxiously awaited the scores. “We did very well and executed everything perfectly,” Kenneth Thompson, 16, a rifleman on the Silver Spring, Md. John F. Kennedy HS team said. “We normally practice one to two hours per day, three times per week and occasionally in the summer. To get ready for this competition, we practiced two hours per day, five days per week, especially in the last week,” he explained.

 

Tyler Mankin, 16, a member of the Osbourn Park HS group said his group normally practices three times per week throughout the school year, but like the Kennedy team, practiced two hours per day each day during the week before the competition to get ready. Mankin, who plans to go to a nuclear physics and engineering college, before joining the Navy and applying for SEAL (Sea-Air-Land) training, said it was his first time at the Navy Yard. “It was a really good experience,” he said.

Thompson, who plans to enlist in the Marine Corps and become a member of their ceremonial guard after attending college at Norwich University said, “It was a great experience and exciting to compete for the opportunity to perform at the Navy Ball. Our cadet commander, Ben Thomson, 17, [no relation], prepared us well. He’s awesome and did a great job getting us ready. Next year we plan to compete but won’t have Ben with us as he graduates this year, but he’ll most likely stop by and help us get ready.”  

For the school-based units, which meet regularly during the school year, entering a drill team competition based on executing a precise order of marching maneuvers, written on a “drill card,” is not new; but for the Sea Cadets, who meet at the Navy Yard one or two weekends per month, drill cards and drill competitions are new. “We had just five hours practice, since learning we were going to be in the competition,” said Cadet Leila Farzam, the Sea Cadet Honor Guard leading petty officer.     

 

Performing a service for the services

 

The 14 school-based teams present the colors at school and sports events and occasionally for special events during the summer. In 2008, the Kennedy HS team presented the colors at a Baltimore Orioles game, Thompson reported. The Sea Cadets present the colors and carry the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard standards for a wide variety and large number of ceremonies and special events throughout the year, attended by top DoD and government officials, including members of Congress, the Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandants of the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard, just as they have since the unit’s establishment at the Navy Yard in 1962, according to Sea Cadet Ensign, Janice Lavoie, the unit’s medical and personnel officer. Sea Cadets have also presented the colors at the White House. 

Porter was impressed by the teams that entered the competition. “There was really good competition this year. The standards were really high, still all teams were confident they would win first place,” he said. Mankin recalled, “We were really nervous watching the other teams perform. We were thinking how we were going to do against them.” Thompson reflected on the last year’s competition, “We did not win last year, so we tried harder this year.” To help get their minds off of their nerves, the teams took advantage of the Navy Yard’s many attractions, including touring the ship, museum and the Yard’s outdoor park, adorned with canons and other historical artifacts. “The most interesting thing was seeing the old uniforms and weapons – they caught my attention,” Thompson said.    

 

Results

Before the results were announced and the trophies were given, Raimondo presented Porter with a letter of appreciation and a command coin from NSAW, honoring Porter’s 11 years of coordinating the competition, while overcoming various challenges and for his 43 years of uniformed service to the country and the Navy, as he embarks on retirement.

“It was an honor for NSAW to host the competition on a glorious and sunny day, with some of America’s finest youth, representing 14 schools and the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. These outstanding young men and women know that although the day was about wining a trophy, the real prize is to graduate from high school and enter college and perhaps pursue a commission as a Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or Merchant Marine officer,” Raimondo said during his closing remarks.

Porter also commented on the day’s weather, calling it, “a fantastic day, with the crisp, dry fall air and bright sun that helped the naval uniform colors really stand out against the backdrop of the USS Barry.” He thanked everyone involved in the event’s planning and execution and NSAW for the recognition they gave to him.

Jon Youngdahl, NSAW special events coordinator and emcee for the event, announced the results of the judging. Kennedy HS, Osbourn Park HS and Paint Branch HS of Burtonsville, Md. took first, second and third place, respectively. Kennedy, Osbourn Park and the two Sea Cadet teams were the only teams that had flawless performances. The Sea Cadet teams lost points for an equipment issue, preventing them from ranking at the top with Kennedy and Osbourn Park.

“We are all very proud of our cadets and their great accomplishment,” Sea Cadet Ensign Maria Gonzalez, a volunteer adult with the unit and Navy civilian employee based at the Navy Yard stated. Mankin said, “It was a great sense of accomplishment that we were able to pull off the victory for second place with just a week’s worth of practice.” “We hope to come back next year and win again,” Thompson concluded, confidently.