Jones County High School’s JROTC program held its first Raider Competition, which was by all accounts a success.
The Raider Competition was held Sept. 16 at the new JCHS Raider Course that has been a work in progress over the summer. The competition featured five events. Senior Army Instructor Capt. Michael McMillan said work was being completed on the course the Friday before the Saturday event.
The captain said more work is planned on the course, including bleachers with an overhead cover and other items targeted to spectators’ comfort.
“We learned a lot from this first event,” he said.
The captain said the competition would be an annual event in Jones County going forward. He said one of the positive impacts it had on the county economically was the number of people it brought into the community to eat at local restaurants, shop and buy gas.
“And people will learn where Jones County is,” he added.
The number of teams competing were 27 coming from 15 schools. McMillan said there were more than 300 competitors and their crews, in addition to friends and family members who came to watch. A conservative estimate of the number of people the event brought into the county was 800.
The captain has been with the JCHS JROTC program for a little more than a year, and this is the fifth year Army Instructor Sgt. Michael Kingston has been with the program.
Kingston explained that the Raider Competition consisted of six events that began with a road race just under two miles in length. The next event was the one-rope bridge followed by the obstacle course.
He said the obstacle course features the high step, wall, monkey bars, and low crawl sand pit.
The fourth event is the crosscountry rescue with 25-pound assault bags and a stretcher carrying 90 pounds of rock salt. Next is the Raider fitness challenge followed by the zigzag course.
The Greyhound Raider Team won seven awards that included a third-place overall trophy for the team. The female raider team won awards for placing second on the cross-county rescue, second for the team run and third for the raider fitness challenge.
The male raider team placed first for the obstacle course, third place for the one-rope bridge and third place for raider fitness challenge.
Raider Course
The idea of the Raider Course was brought up by Laura Rackley, who was the director of the CTAE program at the time, shortly after McMillian started at JCHS. The captain said he was pleasantly surprised at the support received for the course by the Board of Education and Superintendent Charles Lundy.
“They didn’t as much as flinch when we presented it,” he said.
McMillian explained the Raider program is one of several extracurricular activities available to JROTC pathway students. He said the Raiders get more attention, but other programs include shooting, robotics, drill and fitness teams.
He said all the extracurricular activities are optional, and students in the JROTC pathway can receive credit for the program without doing any of them. The captain said there are 92 students currently in the program, and that includes 39 females.
Kingston said the benefit for students entering the JROTC program are structure, leadership skills, time management and discipline. He said the program also helps student plan for the future.
McMillian said one of the big benefits of the program is teaching the soft skills that employers are looking for, such as being on time, dependability, conflict resolution and developing self-confidence.
He said a big part of the program is giving back to the community.
“I’ll put this group up against anyone for hours of volunteering,” he said.
The captain said physical fitness is a vital part of the program, but not everyone wants to play football.
Kingston said the JROTC program does not try to get students to join the military.
McMillan agreed that was not the goal, but if a student is interested, it does give them an advantage and can put them 15 months ahead of those not in the JROTC.
“I hope the Raider Competition Course will generate more interest in the JROTC,” he said.
McMillan and Kingston will be visiting the middle school physical education classes to talk about the program.
Cadet Commander
Cadet Lt. Col. Isaiah Dennis is the Battalion Commander for the JCHS program. He a senior and is also the JCHS Senior Class President. Dennis has been in the JROTC since he was a freshman.
McMillan said the position of Commander means that Dennis is responsible for everything the battalion does or fails to do.
Dennis said the JCHS Raider Team did a phenomenal job at the Raider Competition.
“Our teamwork showed at the competition. I’m very proud,” he said.
The commander said he is looking at the Naval Academy for a commission and wants to fly for the Marines. Dennis also served as the Raider Team Captain for the Sept. 16 competition.
“I may be the team leader, but I’m nothing without the team,” he said.
