All-Female Honor Guard Set to Compete

For the first time ever, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office honor guard will be comprised of all women when it competes Saturday in a competition sponsored by the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in D.C.

Last year and in 2010, Fairfax County took first place and best dressed in the competition. It will be the first time that an all-female team will compete. For the first time in the Sheriff's Office history, all members of the competing team are female, according to a news release. In fact, never in the 21-year history of this competition has any agency fielded an all-female team.

"We did not set out to have a certain number of men or women for this competition," said Lieutenant William Friedman, commander of the honor guard said in a statement. "But when it looked like the team was shaping up to be mostly female, we decided as a group to go all the way in that direction."

The complete honor guard currently has 36 members, eight of whom are female. Joining the team is voluntary, but the process is very competitive. Members formally train for two hours every month and drill before every event.

"We’ve had so much fun at practices," Private First Class Amy Lewis, a nine-year veteran of the honor guard said in a statement. "Marching has been easier, too. Since we’re all the same height, our strides match step for step. Win or lose, we’ve had a great journey to get to this competition."