Cavalier Battalion Retires Old Flags

Cavalier+Battalion+Retires+Old+Flags

On April 1 st the Greenbrier West JROTC class conducted a flag retirement ceremony on
campus. The ceremony was part of the service-learning portion of the JROTC curriculum.
Service-learning is an annual requirement in JROTC where the Cadets are required to identify a
community need, create a plan so they may address the need, resource the required materials,
and then perform the required service. These service-learning projects directly support the
JROTC Mission of “Becoming Better Citizens”

The planning was primarily conducted by Cadet CPT’s Esther Parks and Braelyn Sanford.
Both of these Cadets picked up the project from where it stopped last school year when COVID
abruptly ended the school year. When asked how this project affected her, Cadet CPT Parks
replied, “This flag retirement ceremony gave me the feeling of happiness being able to retire
these flags the right way.”

This particular service was chosen because a need for proper flag disposal was
identified, and a big part of the project was the Cadets were able learn the correct way a flag
should be disposed of. Unfortunately, several flags can be seen in the general public that are
literally disintegrating on the pole.

Over the span of two school years, the Cadets were able to obtain over 300 flags for
retirement and over 12,000 mini flags from LZ Rainelle. However, the LZ Rainelle flags were not
finished, and the Cadets will have to resume retiring those at a later date.
Upon the ceremony’s completion, Cadet CPT Braelyn Sanford stated, “This will be an
experience that will stay with us forever.”