OCALA, FL (352today.com) – It was an opportunity to earn bragging rights during the nation’s Semiquintennial Celebration.
The second Operation Appreciation, celebrating leadership, teamwork, and community service featured four teams at this year’s event, with Belleview, Lake Weir, North Marion and West Port High School’s JROTC programs taking part in the field day at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Friday, March 13, 2026
The four teams participated in kickball, tug-of-war and volleyball with the hope of winning a traveling trophy and the satisfaction of earning those honors during the year of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“These are young cadets who may or may not join our military,” said Anne Parker, Ocala Blue Star Mothers of America president and past national president. “It’s basically a leadership program and they’re having what we used to call a field day out here. And the Ocala Blue Star Mothers in conjunction with the veterans’ park are serving them hot dogs.”
Several of the Ocala Blue Star Mothers have children that went through the JROTC and then subsequently went on to ROTC and are commissioned officers currently serving or have served the nation, said Parker, who also sits on the Marion County Veterans Council.
“That brings us back to the days when we were mom’s looking at our kids in high school and hoping for the very best for their future,” said Parker, who also went on to recognize the men and women who volunteer at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park for the outstanding work they do. “We partner with [the park]. We have a car show coming up on April 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. We bought a monument in the park to honor our Blue Star Mothers. We hope to have enough from the proceeds of our car show at the Silver Springs Park to be able to purchase a monument honoring our Cold War veterans, a group that’s not been widely recognized. We hope to do that. But there are many ways we’re involved including our partnership with Veterans Helping Veterans where we serve our veterans. We send boxes through Operation Shoebox. It’s just a wonderful community. People want to make sure that our veterans are honored including the Marion County Memorial Honor Guard.”
A cake was ceremoniously cut prior to the start of the games, honoring the United States of America’s 250th anniversary. JRTOC isn’t a recruiting program–it’s about character building, leadership, self-confidence and self-discipline, said Col. Keith Cunningham, Air Force JROTC North Marion instructor.
“We put a little more structure into the program, so the cadets can take out of it more self-discipline,” said Cunningham. “It works. It really does, not for every kid, but some do go into the military, about 10 percent, maybe 15 percent at times, who will enlist or go to a service academy, ROTC, which is great and we love that. That’s not our mission.”
All of the school JROTC programs have provided thousands of community service hours in the past 10 months, with North Marion High School’s program having logged more than 3,000, as the cadets have a passion for giving back to the community, especially those projects that involve veterans, said Cunningham.
It was an opportunity for the JROTC cadets from the four participating school to enjoy a morning of fun-filled activities.
“I think this is a great event,” said Master Sgt. Thomas Young, Belleview High School AFJRTOC instructor, who thanked the veterans’ community for their support. “Our kids like to come out here and have a good time.”