Tag Archives: Air Force ROTC

So Far So Good

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Hello readers, if you do not know already I am a current freshman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott Campus, and in this blog i will be catching you all up on what i have done all year long in terms of classes, clubs, Air Force ROTC, and more. First off I am going for my Electrical Engineering degree, as well as being a cadet in Air Force ROTC and have so far enjoyed the beginning of my career here.

The first semester, the first semester was pretty difficult because of the transition away from home, but class wise i was not taking anything difficult. Basic classes such as calculus, history, physics, as well as engineering 101, and Air Force 101. These classes are the main classes you will most likely have. I did get home sick for a period of time, but eventually that passed and I got used to living at school. The things I have missed the most were my dogs and home cooked food.

After the first semester i began to realize, this is it, the real deal. So once the second semester came around, I was well prepared. This semester I have taken Calculus 2, Physics 2, Engineering 115 aka (MATLAB), Humanities, and Air Force class 102. Although i am still not into the difficult classes yet i feel more prepared then i was at the end of last semester. My roommates and I enjoy going to the movie theater on the weekends, hikes, and out to eat, there are plenty of great restaurants in town, i suggest going into town and exploring, they have some interesting stores.

Now throughout the year I have been involved in many organizations, and activities in town and on campus. This past weekend i went into town for a chalk festival, held annually, this event is awesome and lots of fun. I also participated in the human society’s dog walk on campus. I am also a part of AFROTC Honor Guard and have done many performance in town as well as out of town. If you plan on joining AFROTC I highly suggest joining one of the teams in Honor Corps, such as Sabre, Rifle Drill, and Honor Guard.

 

The campus is easy to navigate getting to class in about 5 min is really nice. One of my favorite pass times is going to the gym on campus, and hiking across the street.

Hopefully you enjoyed my blog, if you want any more information feel free to let me know.

Air Force ROTC at Embry Riddle Prescott

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Tadah! I’m here again and my new topic is Air Force ROTC at Riddle. As I’ve mentioned before I am a freshman cadet on the Prescott campus and I am loving my experience in the Air Force and in college so far. I just thought it would be nice to give you an insiders look at what a week as a GMC (General Military Cadet) is like.

The first thing you need to know is how the Cadet Wing works, there are POC (Professional Officer Candidates) and GMC. The GMC are the lower class and are typically freshman and sophomores in college while the POC are juniors and seniors who have already gone through field training and are simply waiting for life as an officer in the Air Force to begin.The POC must be saluted by the GMC as they are the people running the cadet wing and training us to be officers. Even more important above the POC is the cadre, these guys are awesome!! They teach everyone to be an officer and they make sure we get all our things done on time.

POC Cadets selected to be future pilots in the Air Force

 

The average week for a GMC cadet is as follows: Tuesday:  get up and go to PT. Wednesday: go to Leadership Laboratory where you learn to be a leader and get amazing opportunities to meet people and get involved in the community. Thursday:  get up and go to PT. And at some point during the week you might have a flight drill and ceremonies practice, extra PT or a meeting about a flight goal that you want to accomplish. Additionally, you must attend an Air Force class to learn about the Air Force and explore what a career in the military means to you.  Its pretty simple and exceedingly fun/rewarding.

There are also AFROTC groups you can be apart of if you wish to get more involved or to become a better cadet. Some of these are Honor Corps, with the 3 teams which are described in my blog entitled “SCIDM- Honor Corps”, Arnold Air Society (these guys are cool), and Silver Wings (an affiliate of Arnold Air Society). All of these groups teach discipline and perfection; so if you are looking to succeed in AFROTC then joining one of these groups would be great for you!

One final note that I must point out is that I urge you if you are even moderately interested in the Air Force, please try out AFROTC if you get the chance. Dive in and give it your all, you may discover yourself living a dream that you had never imagined you would hold.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!!

SCIDM- Honor Corps

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Hey there I just got back from a cool competition that Air Force ROTC Honor Corps does every year and I just thought I’d tell you a little about it. First off though I’ve got to tell you about the teams in Honor Corps, there are three: Honor Guard, Rifle Drill, and Sabre drill.

I am a member of the Honor Guard and we basically post and retrieve flags as well as doing other events for football games and flag retiring. Honor Guard has the most variety of all the teams and it is also the one that pay most attention to detail, if you plan on being in Air Force ROTC and you want your uniform to be perfect then please join Honor Guard!! Guard is a lot of work between uniforms and performances but it is very rewarding as all we do honors those who came before us in all branches of the military. For example, each year Guard performs a 24 hour vigil for veteran’s day along with the two other teams. Vigil takes a lot of training, time, and dedication but, it is an entirely rewarding experience as it allows you to experience a fraction of the sacrifice that our veteran’s experienced while serving our country.

The Rifle drill team spins (and occasionally breaks) rifles in variations of four to ten man performances.  Rifle team is definitely the more rambunctious of the groups in Honor Corps, but they put on an incredible performance which personally I could never do.  They of course, also help with vigil and perform at SCIDM every year.  If you get the chance to come by Riddle one of these days you can see rifle and the other teams practicing in the lower fields. Practices are exceedingly interesting to watch and we invite you to stop by and check out the teams. You might be lucky enough and get to learn a few moves with the rifle (it’s a fake one by the way so no worries). If you enjoy it then we definitely encourage you to join one of the teams.

Sabre team is the last team, they are the smallest of all the teams in Honor Corps but, they are pretty epic too. I honestly don’t think I could toss a sharpened sabre around all day and hope that my partner catches it properly. It takes a lot of courage and skill to do something like that in my opinion. Despite how dangerous it sounds almost no one ever gets injured so don’t fear grab a sabre and try it out, they are a lot lighter than the rifles that Rifle and Guard have to carry so if you don’t want to be holding a lot of weight Sabre is perfect for you!!  Their performances are also quite impressive, and they performed incredibly at SCIDM.

That’s all I’ve got for now but if you want to see some of our performances please feel free to look at the links below!!

Ten man Rifle Drill Team at SCIDM

Honor Guard Recruitment Video

Sabre Team

Veteran’s Day

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As we all know, Veteran’s Day was this past weekend, so in light of my participation in Embry-Riddle’s activities to support our veterans I would like to tell you about how Embry-Riddle honors our veterans every year. As a little side note, there are a few hundred veterans on campus as well as a few hundred Air Force and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.  The campus is very military friendly.

The experience was extremely rewarding and the activities that I was a part of this past weekend will be the most notable memories of my freshman year. I am a member of the Detachment 028 Air Force ROTC Honor Guard Team, which is basically the military group that presents the colors before football games and at other various types of ceremonies.  Each year the Honor Guard Team and the other teams in the Detachment 028 Honor Corps go to the Prescott Veteran’s Memorial Hospital and conduct a 24 hour vigil around the flag. This year’s vigil was my first time performing as an active member of the Honor Guard.  Just being able to stand at attention and endure a mostly sleepless night for the sake of vigil was an incredible experience. It really made me think about why I had chosen to become a member of the team and why I had put in so many long hours at practice when other cadets hadn’t.

The reason is this: millions of people died to protect our freedoms, an almost equal amount have endured incredible hardships as prisoners of war, and countless others have been labeled as missing in action. These brave young men and women never got to say a final goodbye to their families, never got to see their homes again, and because of their sacrifice they must never be forgotten.

This is so important to me as a freshman in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps because I know that I will be the next in line to take up the defense of this country.  Being a participant in Vigil really changed my viewpoint.  I appreciated veterans before but when I stood guarding the flag as a symbolic representation of those who took up arms in its defense, I truly came to understand the magnitude of the hardships my predecessors had undergone.

Honor Corps Vigil 2012

 

I can honestly say that if I had not decided to come to Embry-Riddle I would not have had the opportunity to stand vigil and I would not have grown from the experience like I did that weekend. This freshman year has been an amazing growing process and my Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps commitments have truly helped me mature. I have made a ton of great friends along the way and become a part of the family that I call the Honor Guard. When I need help with school work they are there, and if I’m having a bad day they are there too.  I have found a home away from home at Embry-Riddle and I hope that you will too!

Cherie Gambino Aerospace Engineering

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Hello, everyone! I’m Cherie Gambino, an Embry-Riddle Prescott student from a small town in California. I came to this school for two reasons: Air Force ROTC and Engineering. So far, I’m loving my experiences here. The people are amazingly sweet, the campus is gorgeous and AFROTC is a blast. My best choice to date has been coming to this school.I think my overall favorite experiences have been climbing inside a wind tunnel, building rockets, and being able to tour the campus’s crash lab, all as a freshman student!

In my University 101 class, my professor allowed me to climb inside a wind tunnel because I had been begging him to let us tour them.  It was also during this class that we toured the crash lab, which is basically a field full of old plane wreckage that is set up comparably to the original crashes so that students can study the sites and try to establish the probable causes of the crashes. Because of the University 101 class and other great freshman programs at Embry-Riddle, I have discovered so much about this campus and have met some incredible people who I am sure will become long lasting friends as I pursue my career as an engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Prescott Campus

I encourage anyone who is interested in Embry-Riddle to tour the Prescott campus since it is simply beautiful here, there are many programs to explore, clubs to join, and facilities for students to use. Even though I had never toured the campus myself before my first day here, I have fallen in love with this school and also the state of AZ. Because I love this campus so much, I am very excited to have the opportunity to blog about my experiences as a freshman student of the Aerospace Engineering Program, Air Force ROTC, and Air Force ROTC Honor Guard. If you have any questions or would like to know more about me, feel free to ask.  I am happy to share with anyone and would love to get to know more about you!