By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Proud parents, friends, supporters and community leaders came together in the William Osteen Gymnasium for the 2026 Millington Central Middle High School Annual Military Inspection.
The nearly 200 students of the Millington Navy Junior Recruit Officer Training Corps department got into formation and performed in front of the gathering to showcase all they learned this year.
“Every year we work all year to train these cadets in military drills and then once a year our area manager Mr. Regan Keiff will come and inspect our unit,” said Chief Justin West, Millington Naval Science Instructor. “He’s inspecting us for drill quality, knowledge and personnel appearance.
“This is what we worked for all year long,” he continued. “Depending on how these inspections go, that means rewards for the children and rewards for the units.” Last year we won the Distinguished Unit Award, which is the second highest award available. We hope to repeat that this year.”
Cadet Marissa Briggs was the masters of ceremony for the day announcing exercises and awards. After Cadet Thomas Hosmer did the calls of ‘Stand By’ and ‘Attention On Deck,’ the national anthem was performed by Cadets Bianca Fry and Chamaya Williams.
The AMI is a cadet-led inspection featuring drills performances, uniform inspections and award presentations. The evaluation is done by the Area Regional Leadership.
The Millington NJROTC was established in 1970, making it one of the oldest Navy JROTC units in Tennessee. The purpose of the NJROTC is to instill in students values of citizenship, service to the United States and personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.
In 2023-24 the NJROTC was awarded the Unit Achievement and last year the Distinguished Unit Award.
The 2025-26 AMI featured student leaders like Commanding Officer Za-Niyah Bolton, Cadet Ensign Kaden Bates and many more.
Then it was award time: National Society United States Daughters of 1812 JROTC Bronze Medal award to Cadet Shakira Braden, Daughters of the American Revolution award to Cadet Taylor Bishop, Daughters of the American Colonist award to Cadet John Green, the MOAA Junior ROTC award to Cadet Azariah Lindsey, the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution award to Cadet Cole Strevel, National Sojourners award to Cadet Kayla Barrett, Scottish Rite award to Cadet Thomas Hosmer, Theodore Roosevelt Youth Medal (awarded by the Navy League) to Cadet Jacob Hilliard, American Legion Award (General Military Excellence) to Cadet Dillon Brown, Scholastic Excellence Award to Cadet Cattliey Brown, and Top Gun award to Dillon Fitzgerald. The leaders of the Millington NJROTC Department also presented Trojan Awards to cadets Kirstyn Vernon, Karen Montes-Flores, Luis Diaz, Cole Hawkins, Sade Martin, Ariel Turner, Aiden Guest, John Paul Blaya, Kaden Bates, Vi Phung, Benjamin Middleton, Garrett Cecil and Marissa Briggs.
“We appreciate the community coming out today,” West concluded. “Without them we cannot do it. The support from the City of Millington, our principal Mr. Perry, Superintendent Griffin and all the principals of the middle school—without them, we are not successful at all.”
