The Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (PVMHS) Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) will be competing in a drill competition this weekend in North Quincy.
“We’re now doing drill competition, which is marching through sequential movements, kind of similar to maybe cheer or gymnastics competitions, and then there’s a lot of choreography and stuff that goes in precision movement,” Master Sergeant Christopher Lanning said.
Peabody JROTC placed second in all categories at another competition for girls three weeks ago in New Windsor, Connecticut.
Before the drill competitions, JROTC was in their “fall raiders” season where they competed at the All-Service Raider Challenge Championship in Molena, Georgia on Nov 3.
“They do a physical team test where they go through a series of obstacles in a half a mile loop for time,” Lanning said. “They do a four team mountain run up, a mountain face and down for time as a group, then they construct a bridge out of one rope and cross over a creek, this year was about 85 feet, for time.”
Another obstacle course at the competition was three quarters of a mile where they carry weighted boxes and packs through different kinds of rough terrain, he said.
“We placed sixth overall out of 23 teams in the mixed division, meaning boys and girls at the same time and we were fifth in the physical team tests,” Lanning said.
JROTC cadet Ronaldo Lopez Torres said the All-Service Raider Challenge Championship was a great experience.
“We went all the way from Massachusetts down to Georgia on three buses, it was just great bonding time,” Lopez Torres said.
Along with competitions, cadets do volunteer work in the community. On Dec. 17, they will be doing wreath laying at cemeteries for “Wreaths Across America,” a national event that honors veterans.
On Veterans Day they served breakfast to veterans in Peabody and conducted color guards and flag presentations at schools and City Hall.
“I just think it’s important to teach these guys that it’s important to be part of your community, that it makes the community stronger,” said Lt. Col. Ray Erickson, the Senior Aerospace Science Instructor for PVMHS Air Force JROTC, “And for those communities to do really well they need individuals who care about it and want to make things better, want to do things that serve … to want to be there to help somebody and do something nice and serve something greater than themselves.”
Lanning said JROTC is a great program to get students active and to build character.
“Our mission is to build better citizens,” Lanning said. “I think we do a great job of of showing kids and mentoring them … to have courage and confidence, to maybe step outside of their comfort zone a little and try things that will better them and to give them skills to be successful when they leave high school and go into the next whatever phase of their life is.”
Lopez Torres said he joined the program because his father was in the Air Force.
“I think it’s a program that really prepares you and it’s just full of great kids and teachers,” he said. “I just love my friends, I love the trips that we do, I like all the after school activities, like the Raiders team.”
Everyday is an adventure for cadets.
“The biggest part of it is the leadership and the discipline and just the community involvement in the skills they develop, that are going to be super valuable to them,” Erikson said. “It’s very rewarding, because you get to see a lot of them right from their first year in high school and then they get to the graduating year and the transformation is amazing.”
