On 5 December, 1998, phones were ringing all over town, some as early as 4:30 in the morning. Viking Battalion cadets were getting their wake-up calls, to make sure that no one was late on this exciting day.
Cadets soon began to pour in to the JROTC building in their uniforms and sneakers (the heater on the bus ruins shiny shoes). As they munched on bagels and sipped orange juice, tension ran high. "Oh, I'm not nervous," declared C/MAJ Amy Schwartz as she tapped her feet and shredded paper napkins. "I just want to get there and win now!"
Soon (but not soon enough for C/MAJ Schwartz), the buses arrived to take the cadets to Fairfax High School. While the Battalion Commander, C/COL Biason, kept them organized and excited, C/MAJ Nicola joined the Director of Army Instruction for the preliminary inspections.
"There were a lot of good-looking units," commented Nicola, the All-City S-1, "but for some reason, Monroe just seemed special. You could tell they put hours of work into their uniforms and their shoes. It was impressive."
Monroe's hard work was equally evident on the drill field. Their months of practice finally came down to a few all-important minutes. Make a mistake, and risk losing the British United Services Club trophy for the best-drilled company. But Viking cadets knew to do what they had practiced so many times before, and they were confident afterwards that they had performed well.
Monroe's other teams were just as prepared. Though Armed Drill Team went through a few tense moments, everyone knew that they, Color Guard, Unarmed Drill Team, Platoon, and Squad had done well.
Just how well they had done, however, may have surprised some people. After a brief misunderstanding about Color Guard, it was established that Monroe had won that coveted trophy for the third time in a row, as well as repeat firsts in Squad and Compaby Drill. Monroe also won Platoon and Armed Drill Team, and took second place by a narrow margin in Unarmed Drill.
"The atmosphere on the bus ride home was amazing," said C/MAJ Carreon, the Armed Drill Team Commander. "Everyone was thrilled out of their minds. I didn't want to get too cocky, but then we all decided that, for one night only, cocky was OK!"
Armed Drill Team, led by C/MAJ Carreon, and Color Guard, led by C/CPT Arthur Burruel, now advance to national-level competition.
