High school Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps from all over the area came together at Washington High School on Saturday to compete in the 15th annual Drill and Raider Meet. Ayden-Grifton, Beddingfield, Bertie, Camden County, Fike, Green Central, Hertford, Holmes, Northeastern, North Edgecombe, South Central, South Creek and Washington had students representing their schools and respective ROTC programs.

The exhibition began with a physical fitness test, where students fought to tally the most sit-ups and push-ups, and compete in a one-mile run. Beddingfield placed first with 243 points, while South Central locked up a second-place finished. Despite a fourth place finish in the physical fitness test, Washington would redeem itself in the next competition: the raider skills event.

The raider skills event features a collection of tasks associated with military training and knowledge. Students participated in a first aid-related competition, land navigation exercise and rope bridge course. The Pam Pack overpowered the opposition in the rope bridge course with a first place finish. Washington also finished third in land navigation and second in first aid, bolstering the team’s score and putting the Pam Pack among the leaders. The team finished in second place in the first half of the meet.

The afternoon consisted of seven military drill events. Judges graded each performance on the sharpness, precision and synchronized movements on the drill.

The Pam Pack competed in five of the seven events: color guard, regulation squad with weapons and without weapons, platoon and the freshman squad. In the platoon event, Washington came out on top with 213 points and a first-place finish. The Pam Pack also placed third in color guard, second in regulation squad with weapons and third in each of the other three events.

The Pam Pack will look to improve upon their performance at the next Junior ROTC meet in Elizabeth City, March 22.

Information in this article was provided by the Washington Junior ROTC cadets.