More than marching
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HAMMOND — When senior Chazley Tillman, 17, first joined the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at Hammond High School as a freshman, she was mostly interested in the drilling and marching, she said.
But, she said, “I realized I needed the book learning” too.
That type of education, she said, taught her about Army values and “how to be a leader and how to improve your leadership.”
Tillman serves as the executive officer of the Army Junior ROTC “Tornado” Battalion at Hammond High. More than 120 students, in ninth through 12th grade, are cadets in the battalion, the only Army Junior ROTC program in the parish.
Through its reaching of certain standards, the battalion has achieved the title of Honor Unit of Distinction, instructor Maj. Floyd Dickson, said, meaning that the cadets can be directly nominated to U.S. military academies.
The Army Junior ROTC program is offered as a regular class at the school, at regular class periods throughout the day. Each class is a company of the Tornado Battalion and carries its own name: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot.
At Hammond High School, the Army Junior ROTC is fortunate to have its own building on the high school campus.
Some of the Army Junior ROTC cadets go on to join the military after high school or join the ROTC at the university level.
But the mission of Junior ROTC “isn’t to recruit,” Dickson, a retired Army major, said. Dickson is the senior Army instructor of the school’s battalion, and is assisted by Army instructor 1st Sgt. Warner Gale.
“The mission is to motivate young people to be better citizens,” Tillman added.
According to an Army ROTC Web site, http://www.jrotc.org, the goal of the Junior ROTC in high schools is to provide leadership education and training.
The cadets begin by learning about citizenship, providing color guards and participating in community parades and drill and rifle teams.
By the time they’re seniors, according to the Web site, the cadets are ready to perform as commanders and staff officers.
Tillman is joined by other student officers. Senior Kenitra Seaberry, 17, is the battalion commander, and junior Giovanni Costanza, 16, is the battalion command sergeant major.
“It really teaches you discipline about life that you probably wouldn’t learn at home,” Seaberry said.
“One of the most important things we teach them is responsibility,” Dickson said.
“We’re successful when they’re successful leaders,” he said.
Throughout the year, the students study topics such as health, government and the military, aided by technology in the classroom.
For instance, they play a “Jeopardy”-like learning game, using hand-held devices and a large “poly-vision” board that seems to combine the properties of a white board and computer screen, in one of their classrooms.
“If you don’t master technology, it will master you,” Dickson said.
They also practice the skills traditionally associated with the military, such as rifle marksmanship, using air rifles, and marching drills.
On Thursdays, the cadets wear their uniforms to school.
On Oct. 9, the cadets in the fourth-hour Delta Company practiced their “22 moves,” marching in close formation in a series of 22 steps that begins with a salute, then a “left face.”
They were led by student Joseph Alexander, the class’s cadet captain.
“Don’t anticipate the command!” Dickson told them as he watched.
“Keep your head up!” he said.
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