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Ridgewood NJROTC unit holds annual inspection parade

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: April 29, 2009

Every school has certain teams, clubs or departments that it can point to as a source of pride every year. At Ridgewood High School, the Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps is one such program, and they have one particular day each year when they get to prove their reputation is well-earned.

Last week, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jim Stauffer and Marine Master Sgt. Pete Hodges watched from the sidelines along with students' families, school officials and representatives and local veterans' groups as their NJROTC students presented themselves on the school football field for the annual Military Inspection Parade.

"The kids love it," Stauffer said of the inspection parade. "They really rise to the occasion."

The cadets' uniforms were impeccable and precise, as was their timing and coordination. The event is a chance for the students to show the people whose opinions matter most to them what they can do. But the occasion is more than a simple exhibition. Each year, Dirk Hebert, a retired Navy commander and the NJROTC Area 7 Manager, comes to the school to perform a mandatory inspection.

"This is a national program," Hebert said. The Navy gives these programs money for uniforms and equipment, and it is his job to see the cadets have them and that they are all in good condition.

The event begins with individual uniform inspections of each cadet. Ridgewood always does well, Hebert said, but this year they outdid themselves.

"In this case, they were flawless," Hebert said. So many cadets got perfect scores that they didn't have enough medals to go around at the presentation ceremony.

After inspections, the cadets march out for a field presentation that included abbreviated versions of precision drills they perform at competitions. The program is large enough to stretch across more than half the football field. What some people may not realize when they see the cadets marching as a coordinated unit is that they almost never practice that way.

JROTC has normal size classes so the whole unit rarely practices together. In this case, the unit's only full rehearsal the day before was interrupted by a heavy rainstorm.

"When staff can organize a parade ceremony that looks this good, you know they're doing it right," Hebert said, adding the way the cadets comport themselves is a tribute to Hodges and Stauffer.

"Both have served their country," Hebert told the crowd, "but they didn't have the impact they have now in your classroom. We owe them our gratitude, we owe them a lot of respect and admiration, but most of all we owe them thank you."

Florida's 75 JROTC programs are solid across the board, Hebert said, but in West Pasco, Ridgewood, Gulf and Mitchell high schools are all particularly strong.

Pointing to the size of the turnout around him, he attributed their success to the high level of support from families and the community, in particular from local veteran's groups.

A few days before the inspection, Stauffer had said a lot of the program's ongoing success is the result of support from Principal Randy Koenigsfeld.

At some schools, JROTC is treated as a place to put problem students, but the opposite is true at Ridgewood.

Students have to earn the right to stay in the program by maintaining high academic and personal standards. In his remarks during the ceremony, Koenigsfeld reinforced the high regard he places on the program.

"Each day I'm impressed with your actions," Koenigsfeld told them. "The honor you bring to yourself, your family and your school is remarkable."

Koenigsfeld accompanied Hebert onto the field as he presented awards to two cadets who had particularly shown their mettle in real-life emergency situations.

Chris Fernandez was out with his family delivering newspapers at 4 a.m. when his sister began choking on a piece of hard candy.

With little chance professional medical help could arrive in time, he used the Heimlich maneuver he'd learned in class, dislodging the candy and possibly saving her life.

A little over a year ago, Steven Kovalchick witnessed a motorcycle accident near his house. Instead of simply gawking, he was the first to call 911. While waiting for paramedics to arrive, he and his mother tended to the man's injuries, and even visited during his recuperation, just to see how he was doing.

A lot of people think JROTC is an attempt by the military to recruit students but that isn't the case, Stauffer said. In his nine years at Ridgewood, he's seen the percentage of students who go on to the military go up and down, and it's always a matter of what's going on in the world - post-9/11 patriotic fervor raising it, war fatigue lowering it a few years later.

Now, a larger percentage of his students are enlisting. But he chalks that up to the economy making the security of a military career look more attractive. The program's goal, he said, is getting students to "max perform" as they plan for their futures.

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