Drill Down

I went to my first drill down on Friday morning. What is a drill down you ask? WELL, in my limited life experience, I can best describe it as a really cool pep rally :o) But it's actually a chance for each squadron's drill team to show off their stuff. The squadrons get graded on uniform presentation, drill, and free-style drill. And everyone shows up decked out in squadron colors or ABUs (their regular uniforms) to support the squadron. The general was there, and lots of other top dogs. Plus the entire 81st training group (all the tech students, MTLs, etc). It was quite a lively experience.

Side note one: I had a doctor's appointment (Sam's doing splendid) at 7:15am, so the plan was to get Lily up a little early for breakfast and then take Jesse in before we went to the hospital. Then we'd meet Jesse around 8 when the drill down started. Since Jess had to be there at seven, we were supposed to be leaving at 6:40am to be plenty on time. Well, we woke up at 6:36. It made for a rather interesting morning! :o) But we still managed to make it on time to everything. Breakfast was kinda interesting and on-the-go.

Side note two: When you're rushing to get out the door you don't have time to check the weather and realize that the weather guys were right, and the cold front had come in and taken the humidity away...resulting in a crispy cold sunny morning. That Lily and I got to enjoy without jackets or sweatshirts. Oops. Luckily it warmed up while we sat in the sun. But go figure it'd be "cold" for the first time on a morning I was unprepared! ;o) Of course!

Okay, here's our squadron's drill team. In my opinion, they rocked. And no, I'm not biased at all. And yes, I'm completely experienced at judging drill teams ;o) Here they are requesting permission to begin from the honored party.

Then they go marching all around the drill pad.

Looking really cool and tough.

Turning all sharp.

And ta-da, back to the honored party.

Now for the fun part :o) when they grab their guns for free-style. (Fake guns, folks...just so we're clear and no one has a heart attack.)

Go 335th! Yeah bulls!

I nearly peed my pants when they all turned and the guy closest to us chucked his gun over all their heads and the guy at the end CAUGHT IT! Which, I know is what was supposed to happen, but we'd already seen quite a few misses from other squadrons, so it was very exciting! Plus, it's cool cause Jesse told me that the 335th "invented" those types of throws and everyone copied them. (Truth or Myth? Who knows!)

They did lots of other cool stuff. Pictures don't do it justice!

Jesse was in front of us on the bleachers and LJ kept rubbing his back. While I'd like to think it's cause she adores him, I have to admit that his jacket has a cool texture and she probably just liked that ;o) (Oh, and Jesse did chivalrously offer me his jacket, just so you don't think he's a jerk ;o) But I'm vain and knew it would look goofy on me, so I declined.)

LJ and I sportin' our red and black. GO BULLS!

Speaking of bulls...

We got some entertainment from the drum and bugle corps while the judges compiled the scores.

And some more entertainment from the squadron mascots.

Boys. They can be so weird.

She's looking pretty good for a kid who got ripped out of her crib and thrown in her car seat at the butt-crack-o-dawn, eh? My secret? Sugar. Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. A whole big baggie. The kid probably thought Christmas came early ;o) But she didn't really complain or whine about sitting on my lap for two hours...as long as I kept the sugar coming! A momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do!