JROTC Wins 1st Place Nine Times During Commonwealth of Mass Army League Drill Team Competition

The Revere High School Army JROTC Patriot Battalion Drill and Color Guard teams competed in the second Commonwealth of Massachusetts Army League (COMAL) Drill League competition. COMAL consists of the 12 Massachusetts Army JROTC programs throughout the state. {Brockton, CASH, East Boston, English, Commerce, Lawrence, Mahar, Methuen, New Bedford, Revere, South Boston, and Wareham}.

Drills and ceremonies are one of the key ingredients of the Army JROTC program. Drill is conducted in accordance with current Army Training Circular 3-21.5, Drill and Ceremonies, dated May 3, 2021, which is the Army standard for executing the Manual of Arms. This category also includes exhibition drills in accordance with league-published standards.

The RHS JROTC Drill Team is subdivided into the Armed Division and the Unarmed Division. Within each division, cadets compete in Color Guard, Regulation, Inspection, Dual Exhibition, Platoon Exhibition and New Cadet Squad. The Drill Team has won five COMAL League state championships and is on track to win another state championship.

Previous years (SY2015-2016, SY2016-2017, SY2017-2018, SY2018-2019, and SY2022-2023), the Revere High School Army JROTC Drill Commander, Cadet Walid Harda, is leading this team to victory. Cadets practice every morning before school to improve their precision, accuracy and unison in their specified routines.

The dedication and commitment of all cadets led to their tremendous accomplishments. The unarmed drill team is coached by SFC (R) James Burke and the armed drill team is coached by CSM (R) Robert Callender.

On Saturday, November 18th, 2023, fifty-four RHS JROTC Drill Team cadets participated in the 2nd COMAL Drill Competition hosted at Revere High School. The remainder of the Patriot Battalion was on hand to provide support for the competition. Support cadets were broken down into three teams: security, subsistence and event operations.

In the Armed Division, Revere placed first in Color Guard, commanded by Cadet Ambra DeCicco; New Cadet Drill, commanded by Cadet Sofia Lee Li; Dual Exhibition by Cadets Walid Harda and Caua Berger; Platoon Exhibition, commanded by Cadet Walid Harda; and placed second overall in Inspection, commanded by Cadet Brianna Restrepo; and Regulation, commanded by Cadet Walid Harda.

In the Unarmed Division, Revere placed first in Regulation, commanded by Cadet Karla Leal; Inspection, commanded by Cadet Paris Peguero Pena; New Cadet, commanded by Cadet Kauanny Souza; Dual Exhibition with Cadets Santi Gil and Ashley Rodriguez; Platoon Exhibition, commanded by Cadet Santi Gil; and third in Color Guard, commanded by Cadet Christopher Guerrero.

Individual awards during knockout were presented in the Unarmed Division to Cadets Paris Peguero Pena and Rebekah. In the Armed Division, individual awards were presented to Cadets Brianna Restrepo, Helen Sorto Cruz, Vietnam Nguyen, Ashley Rodriguez, Stephany Vargas-Vargas and Rebecca Arias.

The Revere High School Army JROTC Drill Team is currently in first place for the Governor’s Cup. Their final competition will be held on Saturday, 12/16/2023, at Lawrence High School!

Great job, Patriot Battalion!