By Ret. Lt. Col. Gavin Guidry

For The Daily News

The Bogalusa High School U.S. Army JROTC drill team won first place overall at the Salmen High School Drill Competition, held on Saturday, Jan. 14, at Salmen High School.

The Drill Team is a team of approximately 40 cadets who exemplify the traits of discipline, teamwork and leadership skills learned in the JROTC program. During the competitions, the drill team is broken down into smaller teams that execute numerous events that focus on marching and discipline as a unit.

The JROTC drill team is a way for the program to generate positive publicity, create interest and maintain high morale in the JROTC program. The cadets successfully perform these events with pride, honor and precision while simultaneously balancing their core class schedule and workload.

During Saturday’s event, the BHS drill team performed to the highest standard and were the overall champions of the competition that consisted of Northshore High, Lakeshore High, Ponchatoula High, Broadmoore High and Salmen High.

The drill team demonstrated great proficiency in the following events: first place in Male Color Guard, Unarmed Regulation, Litter Carry and first place overall in Physical Training (PT), second place in Knockout Drill, Female Color Guard, Unarmed Exhibition, Push-ups and Two-mile Relay, and third place in Armed Exhibition, and Sit-ups. Also, cadet Pasquale Lavorgna won the PT Iron Man award.

The drill team is currently busy training for their next drill competition, to be held this Saturday at Jesuit High School in New Orleans. After the Jesuit competition, the drill season continues with another four competitions, to include a March 25 event hosted at BHS.

Congratulations to the entire Lumberjack Battalion Drill Team for their hard won success at the Salmen drill competition and for their daily commitment to excellence.

Ret. Lt. Col. Gavin Guidry is the senior Army instructor for the Bogalusa High School Jr. ROTC program.