EMT Graduation May 19, 2009

Last Tuesday night was certainly an interesting evening. A lot more people showed up for their EMT graduation, with family in tow, than was anticipated. "B" class just rocks that way. There were several references to the differences in the "A" and "B" classes. "A" class was apparently dull and boring so you know it had to be the kids cuz the teachers were the same!

James was asked to talk at the graduation. Since two of his JROTC buddies were also in the EMT classes, he incorporated Army values into his talk. It was interesting and well done. Nerves set in a little for the execution of the talk. Even though a couple parts were missed, James ad-libbed fairly well and I think I was the only one who knew anything was missing. Now he just needs to pass his state exams!

Queen's Royal Guards Drill at Taylorsville High School

Friday, 08 May 2009

The Queen's Royal Guard presented a drill demonstration on the Taylorsville High School driving range Friday. It was very exciting to have these guys perform and most of the school turned out for it. Notice how they have their fists balled up.

During their visit to the United States for a series of soccer matches, 18 members of the Queen's Royal Guard impressed students with marching precision and skill. Because of the difficulty of transporting the sizable ceremonial uniforms, only three of the soldiers wore their traditional red and black Buckingham Palace attire. The rest of the guards wore neatly pressed camouflage fatigues. Each soldier has a tunic and bearskin cap which are fashioned from the skins of Canadian black bears only when a bear hunt is authorized to thin over-population.British youth can enlist in the military at age 16, but are not allowed to deploy until they are 17-and-a-half. The code of ideals the British soldiers strive to embody includes discipline, integrity and respect for others. Their role is infantry soldiers first and ceremonial soldiers second. And on top of that, they're soccer players.

The Queen's Royal Guards stand guard at royal historic sites in England and their army infantry duties take them all over the world. They were very fun to talk to and quite willing to let students try their caps. Isn't James just stunning in it?

Most Awesome Commander Ever!

"Woo-yeah! Look at me and my bad self! Uh-huh! Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh!" James and his team did very well at the 16th Annual Utah JROTC Invitational Pentathlon competition. T-ville had four teams but only three of them could compete so the fourth one competed for another school that came but didn't have enough people. It was because of T-ville's 4th team that Independence High even received an award. All the T-ville teams did well and came away with several awards each. James' team won 2nd place in the Regulation Drill and Exhibition Drill competitions. While Ben Lomand High had the fastest male and female individual runners, James' team still placed 1st for the Mile Run. The absolute high-light of the awards ceremony was at the very end when James was announced as the Best Commander. Hoo-aah!

Mom Rocks!

Pasta is reported to give you natural energy so just before a competition, James likes to have pasta. The last couple of competitions (including today) he's gotten his teams together for a pasta party. This time it was at our house and I had the idea that it was a pot-luck pasta party and agreed to make a dish similar to spaghetti but the sauce is a little different and it's served over rotelle. Then last night I came across a recipe for a chicken pasta caesar salad and thought it looked good. The reviews all said it was fabulous. I had the idea that I could use up some left-over rotisserie chicken and make this salad for the kids also. Good thing! One other young man (John Grant) brought a creamy chicken and pasta dish and another brought some spaghetti makings which came in handy for a couple of very late comers! I had plenty of cooked pasta still but it was good to open the can of spaghetti sauce for them. The salad was a hit, even James liked it. We also had a jug full of lemonade which went fast so James filled it up again. The party broke up one by one until eventually the last 4-5 left together. They are sure to win their competitions tomorrow!

After everyone ate, they split up for games. X-box games for half and a rousing game of Risk for the others. They've had lots of fun and it was so cool to have a house full of happy noises.

31-17

I was kind of hoping that Alabama would win the football game tonight between them and the University of Utah but it just was not to be. This so called great BCS team was totally spanked by the U and even I have to admit the Utes were great tonight and totally on top of their game. Loved that ending interception. There will be no living with Ute fans after this. I am way happy for the Ute players tho... it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. Congratulations Ute football players for a perfect 13-0 season.

1SG (Ret) Jack Heinkel

When James came home today, he told us that they had been told today at JROTC class, that Sgt. Heinkel had resigned for personal reasons and would no longer be there. One of the ladies from the office is going to help out till the end of the year as much as she is able.

Sgt. Heinkel was loved by everyone. He helped the cadets run all their teams and was there way before school began to well after it let out every day. He really kept things in the JROTC running smooth. He will be missed and we wish him well.

2008 JROTC Awards Ceremony

It's an evening to remember and goes pretty long, broken up only by the dinner of sandwiches and pop. This is definitely not an evening you go to for the food but there are a lot of awards given out for the cadets of the JROTC. In the first picture James is receiving a national award... the Trea Award of Merit awarded by the Retired Enlisted Association. This award is for outstanding leadership and being "an invaluable asset to the Junior ROTC Program, the United States Armed Services and The Retired Enlisted Association." Woo-hoo!

James also received awards for Pentathlon, Color Guard, Armed Drill, Orienteering, Rifle Marksmanship, and Raiders. In addition, he received a certificate of participation in the NRA National JROTC Postal Match. A postal match is where you do your target shooting at the range and then mail in your completed target. Each is compared with hundreds of others so it's kind of rare to actually win, especially when you don't practice.

James lettered again this year in 4 different areas. He received letterman pins for Raiders, Orienteering, Drill and Pentathlon. There was also an award given to James for being the person who did the best and brought in the most money during the annual fund raiser. Great job James!! That award is celebrated by the purple ribbon in the second picture. The last picture is of the boys of the Pentathlon team with all their awards. You may recognize them from an earlier post. They are a neat team of young men... especially mine!

Pentathlon April 18, 2008

Here's the best team ever! Together they won best overall team, best mile run and best Regulation Drill team with 100%. James ran the mile in 6 minutes and 22 seconds. It was fun to be at the awards ceremony which was short and sweet. I did feel bad for one team that got absolutely no awards for anything but a round of applause for showing up. James said he didn't feel bad for them cuz they were jerks at the last competition. OH... and while this Pentathlon competition was at East High (woo-hoo), Zach Effron was no where to be found. ;>

Scores

James got 3rd place in the Individual, the 4-Man kicked butt, they took 2nd place with the Exhibition with Arms and 2nd place over all. Plus, at Guard this weekend, he won a nice red polo shirt for being the best at drill (the left, left, left right left, stuff).

What a Stud!

Today was the T-ville JROTC drill competition. I'm so glad it wasn't stormy like James' last competition. He participated in the Individual Exhibition (left: this is how they begin and end their routine.. by asking permission to enter or leave the competition area), 4-man exhibition, and Exhibition with Arms. I have to say that James got better as the day wore on. I won't know the scores until after James gets home from Guard. He and another soldier got permission to show up late to Guard this weekend so their whole team wouldn't suffer. That's why the ACUs were hanging in the back of the Escort in the last post... cuz as soon as he was done competing, it was time to high-tail it to Camp Williams. And I am SOOO glad the promised storm didn't ruin the day.

Notice the rifles in the air!

The Son

For a long time James wanted to be in JROTC. There was a summer thing he wanted to do in Jr. High but we decided it was best to wait for the real thing. He has taken to it like a fish to water and signed up for the Utah National Guard Nov. 30th.