Every Three Years

Photo courtesy of P. Lopardi

 

The A.F.J.R.O.T.C. unit is busy once again as they are continuing to to prepare for the unit inspection they must undergo every three years. This years unit inspection will be held on the  of 16th February.

Someone who has been through their fair share of inspections is Master Sergeant James Mangiafico, one of the Aerospace Science Instructors. MSgt Mangiafico knows exactly what to expect with the incoming inspection, even if the cadets don’t.

“A unit inspection is where a representative from our headquarters comes down every three years and spends a day with us and … gets to look at the cadets to see that we are meeting the standards and they’re also inspecting the instructors as far as the administrative responsibilities,” MSgt Mangiafico said.

All three of the Aerospace Science Instructors have to lead the corp and the cadets in preparing for this all day event, guide them to know what is coming and how to not be blindsided the day of.

“The corp prepares everyday, everyday pretty much. It’s just as like you had somebody come into your house that you haven’t seen in a long while, your house may be clean and tidy, but you take just a little extra time and you spruce it up to make it look even a little bit better to impress the individals you haven’t seen in a while. The corp is doing what they’re supposed to on a daily basis so there really not a whole lot of things that we do different, but it’s an opportunity to dot our I’s and cross our T’s,” MSgt Mangiafico said.

However insightful, the instructors are not the only ones getting ready for this upcoming inspection, being whats known as a “cadet lead course” the corp trickles down the ropes of responsibilitiy onto cadets as well.

The most of that responsibility is on the shoulders of senior, Corp Commander Karter Bonillas to supervise and hand our accordingly. Bonillas is the Corp Commander, which in the eyes of the inspector is kind of like a rounded representation of all cadets as a whole, and he has the “day of” job to go along side it.

“My role in the inspection is to guide the corps staff in the briefing aspect of the inspection to explain to the inspector what we do here at Brandeis AFJROTC,” Bonillas said.

Bonillas, however prepared also shares his worries.

“We’re preparing by holding many corp staff meetings in the mornings to set up the briefing. The only thing that makes me nervous is that the whole process can be quite unpredictable,” Bonillas said.

While preparing the outward briefing is very important and is the most well known to other cadets, there is a whole world that happens behind the scenes that senior, Logistics Officer Adrian Gillespie is far more familiar with.

“The corps as a whole has been preparing since day one, logistics however has been busy since the last weeks of the previous school year. My role in this years inspection is logistics officer, my job is accounting for each and every uniform item and making sure our inventory is organized and up to date,” Gillespie said.

Gillespie has been learning the ropes of logistics work since his freshman year alongside the past Logistics Officer’s and MSgt Mangiafico to organize all uniform items and cirriculum pieces such as textbooks. However; even with the three years of practice and preparation Gillespie still has nerves about the incoming inspection as well.

“Something that is a bit nerve racking is the reputation we as a corp must uphold. In our last inspection we achieved a perfect score with absolutely no demerits. To have such a large responsibility and so much to do for a rapidly approaching deadline mistakes are easily made. mistakes that can not be allowed to be overlooked,” Gillespie said.

Nerves aside, the A.F.J.R.O.T.C. unit has an outstanding history of perfect scores and praise from inspectors, and this year’s inspection isn’t looking any different, well wishes are sent to the TX 20083rd.

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