Throughout history, armies have practiced drill. In times of war, leaders used drill to move troops and equipment quickly from one location to another in an orderly manner. Drills also show how many individuals can move as one unit in a flawlessly timed effort. These unison movements are still important on the battlefield, where mistakes can cost lives. Discipline is a natural outcome of practicing drill. The discipline acquired through drill tansfers to JROTC and everyday life activities as well.

Drill is the foundation of JROTC—it reflects the structure of the program. It visibly and physically represents the chain of command. Drill teaches Cadets to work together from small teams of three to five Cadets, to battalions numbering in the hundreds.

Drill helps:
• Everyone know where they fit in the organization
• Facilitate task organization
• Facilitate command and control
• Facilitate mission or task accomplishment

Many skills acquired through drill are useful in civilian life as well. Most importantly, drill contributes to the development of a cohesive team. Teams are an essential part of almost any job, career, or organization to which you will belong throughout your life. 

 Teamwork is the effort of a group to complete a task or goal. Successful teamwork requires each team member to cooperate with other members of the group to complete the effort as directed. As you read in the history of drill, teamwork and cooperation was a natural result of successful drill. Learning about teamwork is an important part of JROTC. It is a team spirit where all members work together to achieve the same goals. Teamwork also gives you the opportunity to interact with other Cadets. In most organizations that you will encounter, the members of a team or group will probably come from different backgrounds with different interests. However, by working together as a cohesive unit, everyone tries harder to get along with each other in a productive and professional manner. By working cooperatively with your teammates, you can improve your individual eadership, followership, and communication skills and abilities.

 In addition to learning and mastering individual and group drill during your JROTC classroom instruction, Cadets have the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities through competitions with the other JROTC program drill teams.  The Silver State Brigade Drill competition season is normally held during the Fall season and features four events with a culminating Northern Nevada Drill Championship.  Drill competition events include, squad and platoon drill (armed and unarmed), color guard, individual and group exhibition.

WCSD JROTC programs have a robust history of competitive 10 meter, 3-position air rifle competition events and success with both team and individual national rankings.  The Ten meter, 3-position air rifle competition is both an NCAA and Olympic sport and is conducted in exactly the same manner in the JROTC program. Cadets will study marksmanship safety in the classroom and will have the opportunity to compete with other schools as a member of their air rifle team.  The Silver State Brigade air rifle season normally runs from late fall through early winter and features league competitions, postal matches, shoulder to shoulder competitions as well as regional and state military service competitions.  We host the Northern Nevada Air Rifle Championship match and a junior olympic match each year.  Additionaly information on the JROTC air rifle program is found below.

 Cadets who are interested in target rifle shooting as a sport and who become members of their JROTC or school rifle team have many special competition opportunities. Competitions are a great way to measure your skills and progress as a shooter. They are always exciting, challenging experiences where you learn to control yourself and do your very best under pressure. They also offer opportunities to travel and meet new friends. The
following are competition opportunities available to you:

JROTC or School Rifle Team
If your school has a JROTC rifle team or the school rifle team, your instructor will provide information about that program. Team members have a chance to practice regularly during the rifle season and to participate in competitions scheduled for the team.

Postal Competitions
In postal competitions, participating teams schedule matches where each team fires their score at their home range. Competing teams exchange scores by email, fax, or phone to determine who won. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps JROTC programs all have national postal competitions that all JROTC units are encouraged to compete in. The National Guard Bureau and American Legion sponsor two of the most popular national postals. To learn more about national postal competitions available to JROTC rifle teams, check the CMP website.

League Competition
In many areas of the country, school or JROTC teams organize leagues where they compete against each other in shoulder-to-shoulder competitions. Won-lost records usually determine league standings. There are many JROTC or high school leagues in the United States. The largest and most active high school league is in Georgia where the Georgia High School Association recognizes rifle as a varsity sport.

 Major School Age Competitions

There are a growing number of major competitions for school and JROTC rifle teams. A program goal of many JROTC or school teams is to do well in one of these major tournaments. They include:

• State Junior Olympic Championships. Almost every state now has a state qualifying competition for the National Junior Olympic Championship in the winter or early spring. Many states organize their qualifiers in three or four different sections so that travel distances are not great and as many teams as possible can participate. Check the USA Shooting website for a listing of state qualifying competitions.

• CMP Cup Matches. These are large regional high school competitions where participants come from several states. CMP Cup Matches have sporter and precision class individual and team events and offer an opportunity to earn credit points for Junior Distinguished Badge awards.

National Recognition Opportunities

When school age rifle teams participate in major competitions, they become eligible to earn many special awards. Some of the most important awards are the Junior EIC badges and Distinguished Badges that are offered by the National Three-Position Air Rifle Council. Individual shooters who participate in Junior Olympic State and National Three-Position Air Rifle Championships can earn credit points for EIC badges and the prestigious Junior Distinguished Badge that are shown in Figure 6.10.6. Distinguished Badges are usually awarded in special ceremonies. There also are National Records for threeposition air rifle shooting, including separate record categories for Army, Navy, and Marine Corps JROTC competitors. The most comprehensive summary of all of the competition opportunities available in target shooting appears in the Youth Shooting Opportunities Guide that is published by the CMP. 

The Silver State Brigade Raider Challenge is a competitive program in 5 athletic and curriculum-skilled events. The events are as follows: Raider Fitness Challenge, One-Rope Bridge, Cross Country Rescue, 5KM Team Run and Tire Flip. This is an extremely physically demanding competition team that teaches:  Ethical Values and Good Citizenship, Leadership Potential, Effective Communication and Logical Thinking, Improved Physical Fitness, Incentive to live drug-free, Positive Self-Motivation and Management, the skills to work as a team member and motivation to graduate from high school and pursue a successful career. 

 Cadets compete in teams of 10 members and three categories: Male team, Female Team and Mixed Team.  The competition season is normally held during the Spring time and consists of four events including the Northern Nevada Raider Championship.

Overview

JROTC and the REC Foundation are excited to team up and join the VEX Robotics Annual Competition Season. Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors, build innovative robots, program autonomous code, and compete among other schools to advance to the JROTC VEX Robotics Competition National Championship at VEX Worlds.

Robotics is not only the future, it is also the present. By familiarizing students with programming, sensors, and automation, they hone critical computational thinking skills needed to succeed in both the 21st century's workforce and in everyday life.

The study of educational robotics affords a wide variety of learning opportunities because it has STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) as its prerequisites. Robotics is always interdisciplinary in ways that are tangible and applicable to students. Students gain an understanding and knowledge through the connecting of concepts from each of the STEM domains. Activities involving robotics necessitate that students collaborate, think computationally, troubleshoot, and innovate - all fundamental skills for 21st-century learners and, eventually, 21st-century professionals.

Educational robotics:

Has the potential to be used as the context for teaching fundamental scientific methods and practices, such as the scientific method, observation, experimentation, data collection and analysis. It also allows for investigations of applied physics and mechanical concepts, systems thinking, and of course artificial intelligence.

Highlights the many ways in which technology impacts daily life in the 21st century. Students build, code, and manipulate their own technological designs to apply innovative ideas that improve existing processes. Robots are tangible examples of how technology is used to meet the needs of its users and the needs of society.

Allows students to practice the engineering design process. They learn to work within constraints, identify multiple solutions to problems, and find the best possible solution through iteration. Students hone valuable skills with problem-solving, troubleshooting, research and development, invention and innovation.

Careers in drones and drone technology are growing rapidly, and students with early and in-depth experience with drones will have a distinct advantage in future careers that rely on the technology. The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC) Aerial Drone Competition prepares our youth for these vocations now and in the future by strengthening skills they will rely on, both in the field and around the workplace. Through its uniquely engaging combination of teamwork, problem-solving and communication, the Aerial Drone Competition teaches students these skills all while having fun!

There are four missions for each competition:

Teams learn about drones, flight principles, programming, documentation, and communication skills while expanding their understanding and building interest in drone-related workforce and career opportunities. Students pilot and program drones, and document their process in a competition logbook. Our competition has FOUR focuses: Teamwork, Autonomous Flight Skills Challenge, Piloting Skills Challenge, and Competition Logbooks. 

The Silver State Brigade hosts 4 competitions between January and March of each year including the 8th Brigade JROTC Aerial Drone Competition, which has teams competing from all the Western US States including Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.  SSB teams have competed in both the Western Regional Championships and All-Service JROTC National Championships.

WCSD JROTC has partnered with the Desert Research Institute and the Sierra Nevada Corporation to introduce our drone teams to possible careers in drones, drone technology, programming, engineering and other STEM disciplines.