An Addition to the CMA Color Guard

By: Casey Robinson on Oct 10, 2020 | Categories: General

As if this year, we have officially added the state flag to our color guard. The addition of the South Carolina flag would increase the total size of the color guard to six cadets; two riflemen and four colors. This provided many challenges for both myself as the color guard commander and the team. First, I had to examine the U.S. Army’s drill and ceremony manual to see how to execute a post with four colors and instruct the rest of the team. However, despite consisting of mostly new cadets, the color guard quickly learned all the commands just in time for the first parade.

South Carolina’s state flag has an indigo blue background with a white palmetto tree and crescent moon. The South Carolina flag has been named the second most recognizable state flag only after the state of Texas’ flag.

The decision to add the palmetto tree to the color guard was easy. Camden Military Academy is the official military academy of South Carolina and because the flag is so easily recognizable, people will certainly know where our color guard proudly calls home. After some research, when CMA was founded the color guard included the state flag. Unfortunately, over the years, the flag was misplaced and never replaced.

Additionally, the palmetto tree holds a special place in the heart of South Carolinians. The significance of the palmetto tree has been traced back to 1776 in Charleston. When the British were bombarding Fort Moultrie in Charleston hoping to gain a surrender by destroying the fort, the palmetto tree logs actually absorbed the cannonballs instead of reaping the intended devastation. In fact the opposite happened, the British grew frustrated and retreated.

The state flag has a past steeped in military history and in the eventual birth of our nation. The state flag deserves to be in Camden Military’s color guard.

---Cadet Luebken