The Detachment Eye | October 2024 Issue

Author

UNT AFROTC
November 09, 2024

Introduction

Welcome to this month’s iteration of The Detachment Eye! We’ve had an exciting month here around the detachment with some unique events and we are eager to recap on them and share them here. We’ll also be taking some time to showcase some honorary members of the detachment; Det Pets! Various cadets have sent in their pet photos and we'd love to present them.

Events Recap

  • Airlifter/Tanker Association Volunteering (10/31-11/3)

  • GMC Takeover (11/2)

  • Halloween LLab

Airlift / Tanker Association

For 3 days during the first weekend of November, 25 cadets from Detachment 835 assisted in the Airlift / Tanker Association conference hosted for the past couple years here in Grapevine, Texas. The conference is an Air Mobility Command centric event that hosts an expo hall, various symposiums, a banquet, and much more. Tons of companies come to show off their latest and greatest ideas and innovations centered around improving air mobility, including well known names such as Boeing, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, and many many more. On top of this, it is visited by everyone ranging from one stripe Airman, 4 star Generals, top civilian leaders, and everyone in between. Cadets from Det 835 and the University of North Texas at San Antonio (Det 842) worked tirelessly to make sure it ran smoothly, with many working 12+ hour long shifts, all as volunteers. The cadets were mainly helping do badge checks to maintain the security and order of the expo hall and other events going on at the conference, and some got to do other things like assisting with top leader’s security details, as well as various other tasks. A select few members of the honor guard had the privilege to present the colors in front of practically every attendee there on Thursday for the opening remarks and on Saturday for the closing banquet. We are saddened that the conference is moving to Nashville next year as it travels around the country, but we are extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to work the event since last year when it came back to North Texas.

Cadets Hohertz (Det 842), Quinones (Det 835), Kent (Det 835), and Valor (Det 842) Meet with General Allvin, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

The Honor Guard gets reps in before the opening presentation.

Cadets Grace, Boonzaaijer, and Rubio maintain the security of the expo hall while it is closed to visitors.

Cadet Esval mans the post on the opening day, with Cadets Faraci and Coonrod (mustache) barely shown.

Honor Guard at A/TA

The Honor Guard proudly presented the colors on two separate occasions at A/TA. Below is a compilation of some media from those two events.

Thursday Practice.

Getting ready for the Thursday presentation.

Taking the stage.

Presenting the colors during the National Anthem.

Posting the Colors!

Halloween LLAB

While the initial day of A/TA was taking place, it happened to coincide with Halloween! Det 835 hosted a special Halloween LLAB where cadets dressed up and had a break from the seriousness of a traditional week of AFROTC training. Cadets still were putting in some hard work, where they had to lead and execute on GLP’s made by our very own A5 staff centered around modern military operations, processes, and strategic thinking.

A snippet of what took place on Halloween LLAB.

Gotta love a good group photo.

GMC Takeover

On Saturday (11/2) GMC cadets had the opportunity to lead and mentor High School JROTC Cadets. They led the cadets through GLP’s, FDE’s, and a campus tour to the Student Union. This provided GMC cadets with a good chance to hone their leadership abilities, but the overall intention was to be a recruiting event for the detachment. Huge thank you to Cadet Mapes for taking on the task of being PA for this event! She did a fantastic job.

Cadets Boonzaaijer, Rodriguez, and Salinas taking a stroll in the rain, prior to the arrival of the JROTC cadets.

Cadet Hicks, E (Left), and Cadets Pham and Malishefski (Right)

GMC Takeover Staff prepare for the morning ahead.

Cadets Sathish, Pham, Ricehouse, Boonzaaijer, Dailey, Smith, and Mapes

Det Pets

Below is a collage of the pet pictures that were submitted!

Raphael is owned by Cadet Barras

Shrimpina (Left) and Big Red (Right) are cared for by Cadet Sood

Misu (Short for Tiramisu), pictured left, is the loving cat of Cadet Sood and Cadet Ruiz. Hazel and Evie (Right) are also from Cadet Sood.

Trixi is from Cadet Mapes

Duke is from Cadet Ricehouse. Not pictured is Taz, about half the size of Duke.

Jasper! From Cadet Smith

Mishka, from Cadet Mahkaw.

Olson (Left) and Nova (Right), from Cadet West

Last but not least; Cali, from Cadet Nagy

Same as last time, a behind the scenes look into some of our pictures not posted on the weekly posts.

Closing

October was a very busy month and we’re glad to have been able to highlight it for you. What is pictured here is just the extra stuff, the cool behind the scenes and extracurriculars that we have going on at the Det but this is not an all inclusive list of everything that occurs here. What you don’t see is the countless hours put in by all cadets and cadre, from the newest of AS100’s, to the soon-to-be-commissioned AS400’s, to the Detachment Commander and everyone in between. We cannot thank everyone enough for how much work they’ve put in to this program. Many people choose to sacrifice rest, time with family or friends, time at work, and much more to further their professional development and to help lift up others and the organization. We are extremely lucky to have such high performing and highly motivated people in the program, all across the board, and everyone’s efforts do not go unnoticed.

We’re almost at the end! The semester is slowly coming to a close and we have a couple exciting things popping up soon, including a base visit, dining in, and various other events. Stay tuned for the November iteration of The Detachment Eye!