The AFJROTC program at Pat-med is small, with almost 60 students; making it hard for outsiders to understand what types of things go on there. If you are interested in solving this mystery, you should go to their next event, War of the Cords.

War of the Crds is a competition where several teams compete against each other. All team captains create a routine for their group (with some exceptions but, we’ll get to that) and then they get judged on it based on creativity and skill.

Have you ever seen people around the school spinning wooden rifles in the stairwells after school? Those people are not doing that for no reason; they are on what’s called an “armed team”. To put it in the simplest possible words, they do cool tricks with sticks.

Unarmed is the part where different teams choreograph some marching formations. I asked one of their very experienced captains, who is aspiring to lead herself and three other kids to victory how she is doing.

“I’m a bit anxious… but overall, I’m excited. I’ve always loved to compete,”  says Jill Dell’orto (12th grader, long time AFJROTC member).

30 drill is a routine that is real; no one competing made it up. Every student in the program is supposed to memorize how to call the commands and how to march this formation. One of the teams is led by freshman, Shannon Nash, which is impressive because it takes a lot of confidence to do something like this when it’s your first year.

Intergrated is when the group spin the guns AND march together, giving you the best of both worlds.

The last group in War of the cords is Duel. There are no captains here because these teams consist of only two people. The only difference between armed and duel is that these are duos going against each other instead of a full group.

The Deputy Commander (a student who helps oversee the entire program) had this to say this about the upcoming event: “I’m excited to see what everyone comes up with for their routines. The combination of skill and creativity truly makes the event amazing.”

If you would like to go, War of the cords will be on February 16th in the auditorium and starts at 7pm.