LOL! I remember those days! The big thing was getting to go to UT Arlington to compete against other schools. Not only did you get out of class for a day or two but you got to see all the college "babes" too! LOLRoadRunnerTR21 wrote:I was talking to my wife yesterday about this exact topic. When I was in ROTC, I became the drill team and color guard commander. We practiced before school and after school and sometimes on the weekends. We competed in drill team competitions around the state as well as presenting the colors at home sporting events. We used the 1903 A3 Springfield. Our school also had a rifle team with a indoor range at the school. We competed in shooting matches with other high schools. Also, one day I was going to give a speech in speech class about a bolt action rifle. When I got to school in the morning, I was putting my rifle in my locker when a teacher said "Can I see that?". I let him look at it and he said "Nice!" and then walked away. But hey, this was in the early 70's.johnferg69 wrote:In high school I was on the ROTC rifle team. Bolt action single shot .22 target rifles. Every morning at 7:30 (classes started at 8:15) the Sgt. would issued our rifles from the safe at school, we carried em to a school van in the parking lot, loaded up and went to the National Guard armory down the road.
I heard afterwards they switched to air rifles then did away with the rifle team altogether because of insurance issues.
I would love to see a Firearms Safety and Training class as an elective today. Actually I'd rather see it mandatory but that would offend to many people.
So I guess the ROTC doesn't support drill team anymore?
Every football game we put on our Class "A"s and worked as "Security". Mostly just helping the elderly up and down the stairs. But standing there in that uniform my mom showed me how to iron and the freshly polished brass and shined shoes made me proud!
I think the ROTC was partly funded by the school, partly by the military. I'm sure with budget restraints it was one of those things they figured they could do without. Sad!!!