Drill team named national champs

"If you would have said last year that we were going to do a routine of this caliber, we would have all thought you were crazy," said Joshua Cloakey as he held on to his rifle just before a gear check.

Although week-day practices lasted for two and a half hours and weekend practices lasted up to four hours each, it paid off big time on Valentine's Day weekend for the Norwich University Drill Team. 

For the second year in a row, the team grasped the national drill championship title at the Tulane Mardi Gras Drill Meet, held at Tulane University.

Joshua Cloakey, a 20-year-old sophomore biochemistry major from Palm Harbor, Fla., and a member of the Shock Platoon, was excited to get to Tulane and see if the drill team could hang on to its title as the national champions.

"Schools from all over the country compete," Cloakey said, "I would say there are a good 30 schools every year."

Even though a large number of schools attend every year, only about 15 to 20 compete for the overall title, which means that a team participates in every event, a necessity to be in the running for the overall championship. 

"There are 17 members going," Cloakey said. "To compete for the overall title, you need a minimum of 17 so we just barely made the cut this year."

The Norwich Shock Platoon is the bread and butter of the drill team. Its specialty is exhibition drill, which involves spinning rifles in an organized manner to a specified routine. 

The commander of the Shock Platoon is sophomore William Cuervo, a 20-year-old political science major from Miami, Fla. He is the first sophomore to command the Shock Platoon since 2005, which was then led by Cadet Marvin Mathelier. Mathelier is now an officer in the United States Marine Corps. 

"He set the standard for all Shock Platoon commanders after him," Cuervo said. "I have some pretty big shoes to fill."

With sophomores filling most the slots on the drill team, the class of 2012 is making its mark. Last year as a freshman, Cloakey grasped on to the first place win for solo exhibition drill, a feat never before accomplished by a freshman. 

"The best part of last year personally was being a freshman and winning solo," Cloakey said. "As far as I know from people that I have talked to, such as Tulane alumni and Norwich alumni, a freshman has never won solo."

Due to the reorganization of the Corps of Cadets this year, freshmen were not placed automatically in drill company, which was the way it was done in the past. If interested, freshmen were able to go through drill candidacy, which is the first step to becoming a member of the drill team. This year, only three of the freshman candidates made the team.

"It was intimidating at first," said Zachary Smith, a 19-year-old freshman mechanical engineering major from Yorktown, Va. "But you get used to it and you just feel like you are part of the team after a while."

Smith is one of three freshmen who went to the meet this year. Last year six freshmen made the cut.

Drill candidacy is the initiation into the drill team. To be a member, the cadets must be devoted, disciplined and in great physical condition. Drill team takes things to the next level as far as precision and military excellence. Commitment is a must, according to Smith. 

"We start doing basic unarmed drill (without rifles) and we drill it and drill it and perfect it," Smith said. "After that we move on to other types of things (such as) armed drill (with rifles) and exhibition."

As drill team members progress, the talent level boosts and allows for upperclassmen to become good leaders to underclassmen, according to Cloakey.

"Now that I am a sophomore and still on the team, (I can see how) everyone's skill level goes up," Cloakey said. "We all push each other that much further."

Preparation for a national title winning drill team doesn't happen over night, which is something every member of the drill team can attest to. 

"We have been training since Thanksgiving," Cloakey said. The team practiced seven days a week.

"Practice consists of roughly an hour and a half to two hours of exhibition," Cuervo said. "The other two hours are split between platoon basic drill, color guard and inspection."

Winning a national championship requires a lot of training time, personal courage and devotion, according to Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Geraldo Mercado, the senior enlisted advisor for the Corps of Cadets and a long-time advisor to the drill team. 

"We should feel proud that they won," Mercado said. "They definitely represented the Corps of Cadets well."

Mercado is a formal Marine Corps drill instructor and is familiar with what judges are looking. Most drill meets are judged by Marines, but the Norwich drill team doesn't limit itself to just one type of drill.

"Our drill team members know the Army, Navy and Air Force drill," Mercado said. "They know the whole spectrum of drill and not just one side of it."

Mercado inspects their uniforms and gives them leadership advice. He helps in any way he can. 

One thing that Mercado has noticed while advising the drill team is that there is now a mutual respect between Norwich and Texas A&M (the winner of the Tulane Mardi Gras Drill Meet for seven years straight until Norwich defeated them last year).

"The very first year I was there, Texas A&M didn't show them any respect," Mercado said. "Now it is mutual. My hat is off to them."

The drill team flies to Tulane using money given to them by the school and donations from alumni. With what's left over, they buy new equipment and go to other competitions. They never have to pay for anything out of pocket, according to Cloakey. 

For two years in a row, the drill team learned the lesson that hard work does pay off.