UPDATED 1515, November 13, 2008

Touching Bases: Tomorrow, November 14th, the school will host Touching Bases. We need cadets to help volunteer in the morning. The cadets will help the parents find the rooms they need to be in. This is a chance to earn a paricipation or unit service ribbon. Cadets should come in uniform so make sure you look good. c/PO3 Martin 11/13/08

Osbourn Park: This Saturday is the Osbourn Park drill meet. Our drill team will be competing in armed and unarmed standards, as well as in armed and unarmed exhibitions. The best way to support the drill team to wish them good luck, and then joining the drill team afterwards. The drill team has been practicing very hard for this competition. We wish them the best of luck for their first meet. c/PO3 Martin 11/13/08

Veteran's Day: This past Tuesday, November 11th, was Veterans' Day. All verterans and government workers had the day off. This day is very important and meaningful to many retired and active duty military members in this nation such as CDR and Senior Chief. If you see any armed forces members or veterans show them your respect for all the sacrifice they had given this country. c/PO3 Martin 11/13/08

Orientation Trip: From November 1st to November 4th, the NJROTC took some of its cadets on an orientation trip. The cadets went to places like Lexington and Concord, took a journey to the past on the Boston Freedom Trail, and took a historic tour of West Point Military Academy. This was all before a trip to New York City where cadets visited Ellis Island, took a ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty, reviewed the site of Ground Zero, and finally, recieved liberty in Chinatown. There was one incident the c/Jimmy Thomas will never forget. Another cadet, Arjun Singh, had this to say about the experience: "It was fun!" I hope everyone had a great time on the trip, and we hope to see you on the next one. c/LT Pinillos 11/13/08

Presidential Election Results: Last Tuesday, November 4th, marked a day of significant importance in the short history of the United States. The American citizens placed their decisions on a ballot which could determine the next President of the United States. Senator Barack Obama, from the Democratic Party, and Senator John McCain, from the Republican Party, were the two main opponents of the election. Senator Obama won the popular vote with 52.6% compared to McCain's 46.1%, and also won the Electoral College with 365 votes compared to 162 votes for McCain. Congratulations to Senator Obama and we wish him good luck in his term as President. c/LT Pinillos 11/11/08

Beginning of 2nd Quarter: Attention cadets! This is the beginning of a new quarter, so that means we have a fresh start. Make sure you keep up your grades and do your homework every night. Nobody wants to end up in MANDO! Unit-wise, we have several things to accomplish. First, is the upcoming Area Manager's Inspection. Take care of your uniform and study your basic knowledge (orders to the sentry, the chain of command, etc) for the inspection. Second, we have several drill meets to win. Please support the drill team in any way possible. Third, the unit has many community service events planned. Remember that the NJROTC is a community service oriented unit. Participate! Alright everyone, let's have a good quarter! c/LT Pinillos 11/11/08

Informal Change of Command:On October 30th, the unit will change its Chain of Command as we transistion into the second set. Cadets will witness c/CDR O'Bryan pass on the command of the unit to c/CDR DeSantis. Congratulations to cadet DeSantis on achieving Commanding Officer. c/LT Pinillos 10/28/08

Rifle Team Qualification:On Wednesday October 29th, and Thursday October 30th, the Rifle Team is holding shooting qualifications. There will be a total of four relays each day: Relay 1(1430-1515), Relay 2 (1530-1615), Relay 3 (1630-1715), and Relay 4 (1730-1815). The top sixteen shooters will make up the 2008-2009 Rifle Team. Please check to see which relay you belong to on the white board. Best of luck to everyone. c/LT Pinillos 10/28/08

End of the Month: With the end of October comes the end of the 1st Quarter in the 2008-2009 school year. I hope everyone strived for A's in every class. On another topic, seeing this past month go by, I would like to thank all the NS-1's as they have shown much dedication and motivation in their involvement within the unit. Oorah cadets. I hope to see much of you throughout the year. c/LT Pinillos 10/28/08

Senior Profile: c/LT Desantis has been a cadet for four years including this year. She has contributed significantly as the Drill Team Commanding Officer and took the unit towards its success in Area 5 and Nationals of the year 2007-08. This outstanding cadet has been participating in all teams, despite her busy life, she has been able to manage her time. c/DeSantis is yet not sure what she will do after graduation, but she intends to either join the Marine Corp or attend a four year college education at Mary Baldwin University and graduate as an officer in the Corps. Her astonishing leadership has taken her far and this month in the Informal Change of Command she will become the Cadet Commander. I asked DeSantis one thing she would change about the world and she said she would make sure that every homeless domestic animal has a house. c/Martinez 10/03/08

Tag Day: On September 27, 2008 the NJROTC Unit met at 0915, at Herndon High School. It was officially the biggest turnout we gave had for a Tag Day, The first doorbell was rung at 1000. The cadets split up in groups and went to work. For some of the cadets this was their first Tag Day. I spoke to one of the cadets and asked him what he thought. “Yeah it was pretty cool, we spoke to a lot of people and talked with each other, but there was a lot of walking.” Despite the amount of walking we still did a great job. c/PO2 Singh is the fundraising officer and is very much impressed by the success we have accomplished. Good job cadets, keep up the good work. c/PO3 Martin 10/03/08

End of the month report/ Drill Team: This month has turned out to be outstanding. Both of the unit's Tag Days have increased the unit's budget by $6564.00. As we know, the fatter the budget the more field trips we can invest in and make the cost cheaper or free for cadets. The unit's achievment do not just include financial prosperity, but include the Academic, PT, Dirll, and Color Guard teams. Both the PT and Academic teams have contributed toward the unit's first success in winning 3rd place overall at the Huntingtown meet. Despite of having had the unfair advantage of starting the school later than the other Area 5 schools, we just, simply kick butt. Drill team has turned out to be great. Many more NS-1's are involved in Drill team than ever and I congratulate them for their enthusiasm, which is sure to take them towards a successful path in the unit. All varsity cadets have shown their presence by waking up almost everyday and showing up to practice by 0555. Surely a hard thing to do, but hard work makes perfect. In addition the NS-1's have shown the same enthusiasm towards Color Guard and Color Guard has been successful. At the moment I would like to thank all cadets for their support and remember the unit without the support of our cadets. c/PO3 Martinez 10/02/08

Tag Day: This weekend on Saturday, September 27, 2008 the NJROTC will be having a Tag Day fundraiser. Tag Day will begin at 0915 and last until 1500. We will be going door-to-door requesting donations for the unit and it's activities. Please try to attend, we need all the help we can get. C/ PO2 Singh is the fundraising officer for the unit. He said that in this Tag Day, the unit's goal is to make over $3,000. We will need a strong turnout to achieve this goal. Tag Day is the unit's main fundraiser. Cadets can earn a participation ribbon in this event. Tag Day will help reduce cadet costs for activities throughout the year. We expect to see all of you at Tag Day to support the unit. c/PO3 Martin 09/26/08

Senior Profile: c/Commander O’Bryan has been a cadet of the Herndon NJROTC unit for four years. This year she is graduating and intends to major in Engineering and Archaeology. Schools under O’Bryan’s consideration are Princeton University, Swarthmore College, and Yale University. She plans on financing for these magnificent colleges by applying for a Merit Scholarship. Also, I asked O’ Bryan one thing she would change about the world and she said she would make sure every child have access to an education. O’ Bryan has been a wonderful cadet and has enjoyed working in the unit, but this chapter of her life is coming to an end and she is in the process in beginning a new one.
c/PO3 Martinez 09/26/08

Huntingtown Meet: In the Huntingtown Athletic and Academic Team meet, on Saturday, September 20, the unit did an incredible job earning 3rd place overall. The academic team, led by Cadet Williams, earned 2nd place, which played a major role in earning 3rd place overall. The athletic team led by Cadet O’Bryan earned 2nd place in curl ups and 3rd place in the 16 by 100 relay events. In addition, cadets Lowry and Hernandez earned individual medals in push ups. Also, Cadet Williams earned an individual medal in academics and Cadet Bednarek received the MVP award. c/PO3 Martin 9/24/08

Huntingtown High School Meet: This weekend on Saturday, September 20th we will have our first PT and academic meet. We will depart from the school at 0555. Cadets are recommended to bring money on the trip because we will be buying breakfast at a McDonalds somewhere along the way. You might also want to buy some snacks at the PT meet. While on the trip DO NOT buy sodas unless you are given permission by Commander, Senior Chief, or c/CDR O'Bryan. Lets train hard so we can do our absolute best at the PT meet this weekend! c/PO3 Martin 9/16/08

PT Practice: Attention all cadets, we will be having PT practice at 05:55 every day at Herndon High School. We are preparing ourselves to the best of our capability, to win the Huntington Meet this Saturday at Huntington High School. Practice will start on Monday and it will last until Wednesday. If we want to do well, all members of the PT team must make a commitment to show up to practice this week. If you are attending practice do not bring jeans, skater shoes, or flip flops. Dress appropriately for practice so we can do well this weekend. c/PO3 Martin 9/16/08

First Tag Day: On the morning following NCIC, new cadets and NCIC staff gathered together to begin the first Tag Day. Despite hot weather, cadets went door-to-door asking for the support of Reston and Herndon citizens. At the end of the day, we raised $2,064. Thank you new cadets for participating in our first fundraiser. c/LT Pinillos 9/12/08

NCIC: Before the school year started some of our cadets attended NCIC over the summer. We had a great turnout of around 30 new cadets. We appreciate these cadets waking up so early during the summer break to attend this program. The staff did a great job of showing the new cadets how NJROTC operates. The new cadets experienced Academics, P.T., and Drill from our first place Area 5 drill team. CDR and Senior Chief noticed along how with some of the staff how motivated the cadets were this year. When I was speaking to one of the cadets, he said, "Yeah some of the things we learned were really cool I love drill and I think I'll show my soccer team the four man push-up!" There is a lot of potential in the new cadets this year. All of the cadets at NCIC this year made Seaman Apprentice. CDR was very impressed. c/PO3 Martin 9/11/08

DONATIONS NEEDED!!!! We need to raise a substantial amount of money to help cadets pay for transportation, food, and lodgi