Five members of the Bainbridge High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) were honored publicly during Tuesday’s meeting of the Decatur County Board of Commissioners.

County Administrator Col. Gary Breedlove, who previously served as the director of the high school’s JROTC program for 13 years, introduced the cadets and their instructors, Col. Dave Stewart and SMSgt. Frank Geslak.

Breedlove said that the program recently received the highest rating of “exceeds standards” at an inspection at the JROTC headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base. He also noted that it has been named a “Distinguished Unit Award” winner each of the last nine years.

“There is no other program in the state of Georgia that’s equaled that record,” he said.

Breedlove thanked BHS principal Tommie Howell for his support of allowing the program to flourish, and also noted that the JROTC cadets are very active in community service. In addition to providing the color guard at events throughout the year, they are also visible participants in projects such as the “Rivers Alive” cleanup day and the Young Eagles flight orientation program.

Recently, two BHS cadets were selected to participate in national aviation camps at Oshkosh, Wis., in the summer. Breedlove said that only 96 cadets are invited to the all-expenses-paid camp each year, and that BHS has had 15 other students attend in past years. This summer’s participants are Zenil Patel and Gabe Cofer.

Stewart said that this year there are 121 cadets participating in the program at BHS. The cadets who were recognized at Tuesday’s meeting were Patel, Cofer, Hunter Savage, Porchia Holland and corps commander Riley Cutchin.

Stewart also congratulated Savage for his recent acceptance into the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

“Each of the last four years, we have had at least one student selected to one of the academies,” he said.