600 cadet drill meet attracts the best of the best

On Saturday, January 17th, the GHS field house was full to the brim with spectators and drill teams watching and awaiting their turn in the significant drill meet.

Eighteen schools and more than 600 cadets came to compete from Pennsylvania, New York, New jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The regional director, Major Richard Schafer, even traveled from Minnesota to see it.

At this meet, the drill team was able to see where they stood among the ranks and was also able to get feedback from an impressive judging panel which included twenty United States Marines,  midshipmen from Harvard and MIT, the Norwich University Drill team, and Army and Air Force recruiters.

The meet started off with a personnel inspection and color guard. Personnel inspection placed 3rd, unarmed color guard placed 2nd, and armed color guard placed 4th.  The GHS unarmed drill team placed 3rd.

The meet was a great opportunity for the GHS Drill Team to see half of the teams that competed at Nationals last year.  “We got better by this drill meet,” said CW03 Richard Muth, the Gloucester High School ROTC instructor.

This drill meet did not determine the team’s invitation to Nationals. However, the GHS Drill Team has already done well at Nationals in past years and have already received this year’s invitation.

The meet continued with the GHS teams, armed and unarmed, competing in the regulation platoon drill and exhibition drill. The regulation drill is a routine set for the national competition, and the exhibition drill is a routine that teams make up on their own. Both armed and unarmed teams compete in a regulation drill and an exhibition drill.

The drill meet was a 12 hour day for the Gloucester High School Drill Team who arrived at 5:30. “It was a great day, actually me, Jamie Frontiero, and Abby Francis got top 15 in unarmed knockout,” said unarmed drill team member, Amy Geraghty.

ROTC looks forward to an upcoming trip to Paris Island in February.