JROTC Aviation Challenge Graduation
By: Ron Warren July 4, 2016
A hot June day woke the nation to terrible news out of Orlando. As the photographer reads the newspaper, he felt sickened by the frequency of these shootings, the lip service the politicians would pay to the victims and the meanness of the elections this time around. It would be a good day to climb back into the bed and shut the world out of his life but today he had the privilege of witnessing the young people of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps graduating from the 2016 Aviation Challenge. After seeing how well the cadets worked together on the problem solving courses the previous Thursday, he wouldn’t miss it for the world.
These were not the kids you see who live with their phones to their faces; these young people were polite, well-spoken and not afraid of work hard. They were from all walks of life, a true cross section of today's America. To them there was no Black, White, Asian, Latino, no, they were simply Americans. They grew up right in spite of the older generations petty hatreds. Above all they love their country.
These young people are willing to step up and defend their country just like their forefathers had done many years ago when they took Hitler’s rocket program and brought it home to the United States. Proof of that victory was just a half mile away at the US Space and Rocket Center museum.
The cadets were sitting in ranks and files under a pavilion. Behind them was a tall tower they had to rappel down, a lake that served to train them on how to get out of a helicopter chassis as it crashed into water and plenty of song birds who made their homes in the old fighter jets and helicopters from wars of long ago that guarded the pavilion. The flight simulators they trained on earlier elected to stay inside where it was cool. The photographer wondered if there were fish in the lake.
The families of the cadets sat on bleachers brimming with pride –and rightly so. While their children sat in military fashion the families were positively giddy. Most of them had driven many miles to be here. The people in the bleachers, of all ages, colors and religions, just as America was intended to be, sent an electric current through the air –their love was strong. The photographer also notices a couple of veterans of an unpopular war in Indo-China sitting in the bleachers. He remembers them raising their hands at the Commission meeting to donate the funds to send a few of these kids here –just as generously as they had raised their hands when their country had asked them to go to Vietnam.
The speaker for the event spoke of team work. He mentions the NBA finals which were taking place. Awards were presented to the outstanding members of the various units.
When a crusty old Air Force instructor smiled and posed for photos, the photographer handed a lens to a proud mother to use on her camera, he could tell it was her son by their looks.
The cadets seemed to think the instructor’s kindness was a trick. It wasn’t but they were well trained to suspect it. The photographer thought the Air Force people would make good soldiers; he needed to think about this later.
Three cadets were trying to make it in a new country. Their parents worked hard, paid in cash and wanted to make a better life for their children –to the photographer they seemed to be the prototype of good Americans. These three cadets knew better than anyone there how hard life can be in other places and how great the US was. They wanted to show their appreciation to this new land by offering to defend it.
They sure made this country a better place today.
As the cadets and their families mingled and had snacks, the parents wanted to hug their children but the cadets were grown up now, so they thought. They had to spend time with their fellow cadets. “Family” was kind of embarrassing to them at this moment. The cadets had tasted their independence and the responsibility of adulthood for the first time and they were drunk with it.
A few short weeks ago the Major gave a presentation to the Madison County Military Heritage Commission asking for donations to help some of the less fortunate students attend Aviation Challenge. The photographer couldn’t believe it when the commission voted to donate a sizable amount to this cause. He was proud of the Major and the Commission.
What a fine group of people he had fallen in with.
An old car held together by duct tape and prayers was leaving the parking lot. It reminded the photographer of the cars most black people used to drive, “down here,” forty years ago –we were so mean to them then. The people inside the old car were more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. The young lady in the passenger’s seat, all smiles, had seen things that her parents had never imagined seeing. She had trained to fly a jet fighter. Soon she would be helping feed her family and more firmly establish her family as Americans.
She would be just like the immigrants from Europe and the freed slaves from Africa that have come here and made good Americans. She would make America a better place, as would her children. They have no idea of the Medals of Honor awarded to their people in the Pacific. The photographer prays that she will never have to be put in that place.
As the photographer was leaving the graduation he thought about the generosity of the community, the hard work of the young people, the pride of the instructors, the proud parents. A hot breeze flowed around him, tiring him, but the call of the kingfisher on the power lines brought him back to life –there must be fish in that lake after all. This morning there is nothing wrong with this country. As we say in the south, the Major, “did good” for these young people. She “did good” by her country too. The nation will heal from the morning’s tragedy and it will rise above its politicians. The American spirit cannot be held down. As long as our youth continue to contribute to the greatness of the United States we will be just fine for a long time to come.
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