The headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Junior ROTC announced recently that Effingham County High School Unit GA-938, has been awarded the Air Force Junior ROTC Distinguished Unit Award for school year 2014-15. This marks the fifth consecutive year the corps of cadets at ECHS has earned the DUA, and the ninth time in the last 11 years.

Cadets at ECHS earned the inspection rating and award under the leadership of the two corps commanders, Cadet Cols. Tyler Martins (first semester) and Brian Nicolaus (second semester).

The report of the one-day inspection by the JROTC headquarters representative highlighted the logistical processes and procedures of the corps, and the 32-step drill sequence performed by the second-year cadets. Both areas received exceeds standards marks on his report, and several other inspection areas.

Other highlights of the school year included the cadets accumulating over 1,800 community service hours and one cadet being selected for the Governor’s Honor Program. The corps also held its annual dining-in military ball, and end-of-the-year awards and decorations ceremony. Field trips included a C-130 aircraft orientation flight, a tour of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in Charleston, S.C., and a tour of Daniel Defense.

The Distinguished Unit Award is limited to the best of the best of the more than 900 Air Force JROTC units worldwide.