Oregon City High School JROTC celebrates another year of service

It was time for the last tradition of the afternoon.

On the last day of school, Thursday, June 14, members of Oregon City High School’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps finished their squad competition and awards. They’d cleaned up the lawn and outdoor areas. They celebrated the 2023-24 school year and service work done by their chapter throughout the year.

“I joined when I was a freshman,” said cadet 1st Lt. Hannah Abbott. “I joined because I had a lot of friends that were in JROTC and I saw their uniforms and saw that they had awards and I thought that was pretty cool to look at people and see what they earned and how it was placed on their uniform. It was something I wanted to be a part of.”

Oregon City’s JROTC chapter started in 1998. Maj. Douglas Thomas joined at the start of the 2009-10 school year and is the supervisor for the chapter along with Sgt. 1st Class Rob Aguilar.

“They’re cadets who are looking to explore things — more career-oriented, not necessarily military-oriented. We do have a percentage of them that have at least a perception of the military from family members,” said Thomas. “Most of them are just looking for a club or an activity that lets them do things. … High school is boring and hard to have fun at unless you’re doing an activity.”

OCHS JROTC has around 100 cadets each school year. The different “companies” of students are divided up depending on what school period they take JROTC as an elective. Douglas said that usually a handful of graduating seniors will enter into some form of military service down the road and he has proudly seen a handful head to military universities like West Point.

“I joined the second trimester of my sophomore year because I had just moved here from Colorado and I didn’t really know anybody,” said cadet Sgt. 1st Class Sadie Couch. “Also, that was the summer that ‘Top Gun’ came out and that was when my inspiration and curiosity kicked in for the military. On my very first day at OCHS I sat down next to Hannah (Abbott) and I found out that she was in JROTC, and I really thought it was the coolest thing ever. Later that year, I joined, and I was a little skeptical at first, but so far, it's been amazing and has really set me up for my future.”

Both Crouch and Abbott are rising seniors at OCHS. They said that the best part of joining JROTC, other than the uniforms, was the service opportunities. Abbot also mentioned competing in unarmed precision drill team through JROTC.

“We went to nationals this year and a lot of people are like, ‘What is that?” said Abbott. “It’s precision marching, it’s something that I love and I’m most passionate about every single day. We’re competing against our inspection, so our knowledge and how well we march.”

Abbott added that she’s competed in unarmed precision drill for three years now and feels that her confidence has grown through the competition. Abbott and Couch have both participated in two of JROTC’s most well-known service and outreach projects: Memorial Day and helping at the local rodeo.

“One of the very first big community projects that I did was going to the Molalla Buckaroo rodeo, where we stayed up until two in the morning, cleaning the stands for the Fourth of July,” said Abbott. “It was so much fun being able to work with some many different people and make those friendships.”

Each year, the JROTC also places American flags on every grave at Mountain View Cemetery.

“Boy, our cadets really enjoy doing the service ceremonies at Mountain View Cemetery. It's an old pioneer cemetery, but there are veterans laid to rest there, and they like to do a Memorial Day ceremony every year. We have such an easy time getting volunteers to dress up in uniform to do all the military pomp and circumstance for that local event; the kids love it and the community loves it,” said Thomas.

Thomas said that “things for us have normalized” after several disrupted years due to the pandemic. Students are returning and the traditions of JROTC are back in full swing.

After the dodgeball, obstacle course and precision drill squad competitions came to an end, the only tradition remaining was a stomach-churning one. Two cadets volunteered to let their fellow students concoct a mixture of “everything,” condiments mainly, in a bucket and dump it on their heads.

The parent squad leaders and other cadets watched, slightly green, as the two friends smiled and said farewell to the school year in a truly gross and celebratory way.