4 JROTC Cadets attend SNI Drill camp

Published 5:45 pm Thursday, July 14, 2022

MOULTRIE, Ga. – Four Colquitt County High School Junior ROTC cadets participated in a Sports Network International Drill camp last week. 

“Drill Camp is one of the best and most important opportunities offered to cadets. They get to travel to a new place, meet cadets from all over the US, develop new leadership skills, and learn the value of hard work,”  Lt. Col. Jason Perdew, the senior Marine Corps ROTC instructor at Colquitt County High, said in an interview Wednesday. “They come back more confident, highly motivated, and want to share their experience and knowledge with the other cadets. This improves our JROTC program overall.” 

This year’s SNI Drill camp was specifically for Marine Corps JROTC cadets.

CCCHS Junior ROTC Cadets Macon Craig, Jesus Luna, Cristina Sebastian-Antonio and Jeffery Johnson attended the one-week SNI Drill camp at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, from July 6 to July 12. 

Johnson, a rising CCHS junior, said he went into the camp with an open mind.

“When I got there, it seemed like boot camp. They’re hard on you at first,” Johnson said.

He said the instructor’s sternness only motivated him to keep learning.

“It just gave me the motivation to get through,” he added. 

Sebastian-Antonio, an upcoming CCHS senior, said she enjoyed learning an exhibition drill routine. 

“The exhibition was like a whole routine. You could come up with a whole routine at the moment,” Sebastian-Antonio explained. “You mainly use your body as your noisemaker instead of a weapon. We weren’t using the [armed rifles]. We were using our body.”

The first few days of camp were long for Craig, a rising CCHS junior. It wasn’t until the third day that he got closer to his platoon.

“At the beginning of the third day, it started becoming a little bit faster and I was having more fun getting closer with my platoon. I’m like family with my platoon now,” Craig shared.

Craig said he entered the camp not knowing how to spin a rifle. Now, he can consistently flip and spin a rifle with one hand. 

Every day, in rain or 102-degree heat, the cadets marched with their platoons. 

Luna said his favorite part of camp was spending time with his platoon.

“We were all really family,” he said. “I don’t know what happened at first. We were all very separated. Out of nowhere, we just came in closer and closer. I just felt happy with them.”

Each cadet saw personal growth in their confidence and skills after completing the camp.

Sebastian-Antonio shared, “Now we’re a little more confident especially because we know what we’re doing. Back then, we didn’t know exactly what to do, or how to do it. Now we got in detail, and [instruction] was very specific. We’re very confident in how to do certain things and movements.

Luna mentioned that the cadets were initially scared of the rifles hitting them. At the end of camp, they could spin the rifles everywhere.

“You get hurt a few times, but you just start getting used to it. You don’t get scared of the rifle anymore. You get more confident with your tricks, and [you can] pull off better tricks. I see more motivation in myself from camp, and I’m more dedicated to it,” Craig added.

Consistency was the main lesson the cadets learned.

Sebastian-Antonio shared, “One thing we all learned was consistency. The fact that we stayed consistent with it during that time really is key, and that’s what made it possible to learn these things.”

The cadets advised future attendees to go into the camp with an open mind.

“Forget your pride. Go into [the camp] with a learning mind,” Johnson said.

The four cadets will be teaching the upcoming Junior ROTC cadets drill at this year’s three-day orientation camp. 

The cadets also said the SNI Drill camp changed their perspectives on leadership.

“We don’t have that mentality of wanting to be liked. You got to do what you have to do now, and we want to implement that in every single one of our cadets,” Sebastian-Antonio said. 

All the cadets received a completion certificate and a medal on the last day of camp.

For more information about JROTC or SNI Drill Camp, please email Perdew at jason.perdew@colquitt.k12.ga.us or call (229) 890-6141 ext: 21675.