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North Georgia College And State University

Volume
Volume 147 , Number 34
Pages
Pages S2303
Legislative Body
Senate
Date
Wed, March 14, 2001

Sen. Zell Bryan Miller

legislator photo
Party
D
State
GA

Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the achievements of the Blue Ridge Rifles and Color Guard of North Georgia College and State University, who recently placed first overall at the 29th annual Tulane Naval ROTC Mardi Gras Invitational Drill Meet in New Orleans, LA.

The North Georgia College and State University is one of six 4-year military colleges in the United States. Since its inception in 1873, NGCSU's military college has been renowned for its ability to produce exceptional officers in all service branches. This skill has resulted in many performance championships, including 12 titles from the Mardi Gras Drill Meet.

The Mardi Gras Invitational Drill Meet draws teams representing the service academies, senior and junior military colleges, and reserve officer training corps programs at civilian colleges and universities. The Blue Ridge Rifles and the Color Guard of NGCSU have exhibited consistently excellent performances at the Mardi Gras Invitational. This tradition continued with the most recent Mardi Gras Invitation Drill Meet, held on February 23, 2001, where the NGCSU cadets competed against 42 military drill teams from colleges and universities throughout the United States. The Blue Ridge Rifles, under the command of Cadet Captain Phillip Pelphry and Cadet Master Sergeant Zachary Poole, received first place in platoon basic drill, second place in squad drill, and first place in platoon exhibition drill. The North Georgia College and State University Color Guard, under the command of Cadet Captain Chris Rivers, received first place in the color guard competition.

I would like to recognize the following cadets for their fine representation of North Georgia College and State University and of the entire state of Georgia.

The Blue Ridge Rifle Team: Joseph Byerly; Gregg Carey; Joshua Carvalho; Josh Clemmons; Byron Davison; John Filiatreau; Kurt Fricton; Jason Howard; Joseph Marty; Phillip Pelphry; Jason Pon; Zachary Poole; Jason Ryncarz; Jonathan Sellars; Benjamin Sisk; Jeffrey Wagner; Zachary Zeis; and The Color Guard Team: Colin Arms; Peter Bender; Kyle Harvey; Ernesto Johnson and Chris Rivers.