Earning the Name

Earning the Name

It was not just another regular day at Gibbes Middle School when I had to attend a special school assembly. It started with a boring speaker, but near the closing was a surprise that would entertain everyone. A group of JROTC members dressed in red, white, and black uniforms was about to perform. These cadets were dressed with ribbons and metals decorating their starch ironed white shirts and shiny shoes. As I looked at them they were together from their head to their feet, with nothing out of place. At their sides, they gripped black 30-inch rifles. My friends and I knew something fantastic was about to happen. When the cadets approached the platform, the speaker introduced them as the Eau Claire High School drill team. I was very surprised to hear that those students were from the high school that I would be attending next year. Waiting patiently I was sure this group’s performance would be fantastic.

Finally, the leading cadet gave a command, and immediately the rest of the cadets followed his command by throwing and spending their rifles as part of the entertainment for the audience. As they spun, they marched in one accord stepping with harmony as one. The way they performed had the audience going wild with every dramatic spin and making it look like the rifles were going to drop at any second. The finale of the whole performance was when the cadets on the end and the beginning of the line threw their rifles back and forth to each other. It was amazing to see that they did not hit any one or dropped the rifles.

On that day I made a new goal to become a member of the drill team when I advanced to attend Eau Claire High School. I continued to think about the cadets and how sharp they looked in their uniforms and how well they performed in the assembly program when they came to school. I thought to myself in order to perform with the steps and handling the rifles like those cadets did it would take a lot of practice and skill.

Eighth grade was about to end for me here at the middle school, and it was time for me to register for my high school courses. The thought crossed my mind to add JROTC to my list of courses to take because joining the drill team was still part of my goal. In order to achieve this goal it would be a challenge with hard work and commitment. To be on the drill team, one had to be in JROTC in the fall semester. I heard many rumors that JROTC was a hard class. My friends said that it was all about leaders yelling in your face, telling you what to do. Others mentioned that the instructor’s discipline consisted of strenuous physical exercises such as unlimited push-ups or running laps around the football field. The responses I heard made me really think about what I was getting myself into. The flashback of the drill team’s performance when I was in middle school made me come to the conclusion that I wanted to do whatever it took to be a part of the team.

It was the first day of my JROTC class, and I was nervous. The class was divided into freshmen and veteran cadets. I was a first-year and all the students in the class for the first time looked scared. A few minutes later the instructors entered the class, one a retired Marine much older and the other a Navy Seal a little younger. Both instructors were dressed in their branched uniforms wearing the medals that they had earned while in the military service. As retired officials, the instructors’ role was to be an officer over the cadets like a regular military branch. We learned quickly to give them the respect as an officer when they entered the room. In JROTC we would gain leadership, discipline, and knowledge of military skills.

Next the instructors turned the class over to the students who would be the commanders of the class and would determine if we would suffer or have fun. A few weeks passed and surprisingly, JROTC was fun for me. Every day I found myself trying to improve on whatever I learned to be a better cadet in the future. Learning to march with unison and chanting when the orders were given helped to earn a position on the team.

When the announcement was made for anyone who wanted to be a part of the drill team to meet for practices after school, I was determined and confident that I had a chance to be a part of this team. My friend and I showed up for the first practice. We arrived excited to be there, and greeted the veteran members. If a cadet earns a position to be on the team they are called a “mad dog.” The first few practices were the hardest, and most stressful, because of so much pain in my hands and fingers while learning to spin a 12 pound rifle. It was then that I realized it was much harder than it looked. During the first fifty times I tried to spin the rifle, it either hit me or fell to the ground. Many of the veterans had an