My brother ROCKS the ROTC

I've been meaning to post this for over a week. My brother Erik is in the Air Force ROTC at BYU. He just got his wings, which means he's officially accepted to pilot training (I'm not sure what the exact wording is....) and he plans to be a test pilot. Crazy, huh? Well, he got involved with the Rifle Drill Team last year, and is now the leader. He is extremely hard-core about this, with tons of training and practicing for competitions. His group came to Anaheim on March 7 to compete with other schools and BYU placed FIRST!

Here is a great news story about their win: http://marriottschool.byu.edu/news/release.cfm?article=447

It was amazing to watch the drill sargeants get in the cadets' faces and scream at them during the inspection part of the competition. If they didn't know the answer to questions, they were somewhat publicly humiliated. There was even one JROTC cadet who had to do continual about-faces while saying "This cadet does not know anything."

Then the second phase of competition involved a list of commands that the leader of the Rifle Drill Team had to call out and the group had to follow. Erik was a super-star during this part! I couldn't believe it was my baby brother yelling commands with perfect timing.




Then the group performed their routine they had been working on all year. They did complicated tricks that involved marching and throwing rifles and all sorts of things. My video of this didn't come out well, but the photo is ok. Imagine the rifles flying through the air in sequence and Erik fearlessly walking through them.

Here's my adorable brother holding my equally adorable son. See the family resemblance?

Here's his beautiful fiancee, Jessi. I'm so excited for their wedding in April!!!