Members of the Jenkins County High School JROTC are, from left, first row: Tay Taylor, Angel Cunningham, Brittany McKinney, Lashonda Kelsey, Keondra Kelly, Chris Simmons, Morgan Pickett and Ra'Shon Brady; second row: Victoria Phillips, Latoria Wimberly, Brianna Joiner, Brad Amerson, Marquis Moody, Donte Daniels, Paul Dieteman and Andres Jeronimo; and third row: Chris Hillis, Steve Barber, Chris Carter, Bernard Thompson, Trenton Polk, Damien Smith, Fernando Gomez, Remi Gomez and Jared Hackworth. (Photo contributed) The Jenkins County High School Army JROTC "Raiders", the little team that could, went up against the giants Nov. 1-2 at the Gerald I. Lawhorn Scout Base, Molena, competing for trophies and bragging rights as State Raider Team Champions for 2008. Fifty-six teams from 26 schools lined up for competition Saturday morning facing 19 separate events over a two-day period concluding with a three mile team run on Sunday morning. State School Superintendent Kathy Cox was the keynote speaker for the awards ceremony.

The War Eagles from Jenkins County, with an enrollment of 425 high school students, entered two teams for competition, a Male Division Team and a Male-Mixed Division Team. The Male Team competed against 25 teams from throughout Georgia, one AAAAAA School from Alabama and one AAAA School from Florida. There are no classification divisions in JROTC competition whether it is Raider or Drill competition. You have what you have, and like Jenkins County, you go against the "big dogs" when you compete.

In the Male Division the War Eagles finished thirteenth overall of twenty-six teams in their bracket. The Male Team's high point was on the one rope bridge, which spanned a distance of 87 feet over a portion of the Flint River. The Male Team completed this competition finishing sixth overall with a time of three minutes and 43 seconds.

The Male-Mixed Team had a much higher success rate, finishing second on the Army Physical Fitness Test (two minutes of push-ups; two minutes of sit-ups and a two mile run) behind AAAA defending State and National Champion Paulding County of Dallas. The War Eagles finished third on the rope bridge, third on the mountain top rescue, sixth on the gauntlet, sixth on the obstacle course and ninth on the threemile team run. Jenkins County's overall finish was fourth behind Paulding County, second place Cedar Shoals and Alexander, all AAAA high schools.