January: Drill Season is Here!

While some JROTC units have a busy first semester that includes drill meets, for many across America January is when the competitions begin. Some states, like Florida, do not have any drill meets until the end of January, leaving the first semester to Raider meets.

Maybe, like the school where I teach, Merritt Island High School, you have been having a once-weekly practice to get your first-year cadets up to speed with standing manual and the manual of arms or, as in MIHS’s past, you might begin that work on the first day back to school in January- that is a tough way to begin; having to wedge in enough training to give the cadets their foundation to then start practice. If that is the case, you may already be behind the power curve or eight-ball , as the saying goes. Time is working against those who are unable to begin training at the beginning of school, or better yet, before school starts in the summer. Click here for more on the differences between Training and Practice and here for Rehearsal.

Maybe you need to restart your team? Click here, then.

In any case, military drill season is here! Do you have a training plan? Do you have a schedule to follow with schedule checkpoints along the way? Get going!