“Military life is pretty much for me,” said UT Air Force ROTC senior Sara Rivera.
She’s not alone. The weekend before Spring Break she watched several Florida high schools participate in the Air Force Association Florida Division (AFA) Drill Team Championships.
The competition is an annual event and USF was picked to host it this year.
“That’s a pretty big honor to picked,” said Rivera.
Bloomingdale, Belleview, Osceola, Hialeah, Miami Southridge and Durant were just some of the high schools that participated.
UT Senior Marc Lawson, who helped coordinate the event, is a former Bloomingdale student.
“My grandfather was a former military member and he was the one who got me involved,” said Lawson. “I competed in this event five years go when I was in high school.
Lawson and Rivera were both involved in Junior ROTC in high school.
“My dad has been in the military all my life. I was born in Italy and raised over seas. My parents still live there,” said Rivera.
The competition is mainly for the students to come out and show off their skills. The winning team gets bragging rights and the privelage of holding the trophy for a year. The students are judged in the Color Guard competition, an Exhibition and an Arms Exhibition (with rifles). The exhibitions are a modified form of marching.
Unlike college, there are no ties with participating in a college ROTC program for the Junior ROTC participants.
“Once [we] finish field training between sophomore and junior year, we have to have an automatic minimum four year commitment,” said Lawson. “It’s a part of our contract.”
“I’m probably going to stay longer than four years,” said Rivera. “For me it’s just a job, I’m protecting my country and defending my country.”
