Sitting on the charter bus, all of the cadets in our program were extraordinarily anxious to step off into a new world. Upon arrival, we all jumped off of the bus and waited for room assignments at the well-known Andrews Air Force Base. Once everyone was unpacked and settled in, we relaxed and prepared for the jam-packed days of exploration ahead of us.

Mornings were a challenge because of the time zone change and the early morning wake up calls. After eating breakfast each day, we headed to different places and were exposed to various branches of the U.S. military.

In our exciting adventures, we encountered both heroes and true experts.

FHS cadets watched the Marine Corps Color Guard at practice, keenly observing their “amazing, extremely precise” moves. Advertisement

One of the highly specialized teams we met was the Navy Drill Team, with hardly any mistakes, they gave a superb performance in all areas. While at the Navy building we saw the Presidential flag and were allowed to touch it as well.

Another day we went to watch the Body Bearers in their routine practice. Body Bearers are the servicemen that carry the caskets of our fallen soldiers in Arlington Cemetery.

A few of our cadets were volunteers in a couple of the exercises. We walked up a flight or two of stairs and went into the gym to watch the Color Guard of the Marine Corps practice.

Every move they made was amazing and extremely precise. Later we enjoyed ourselves at the dining table. Our leaders weren't kidding when they said, "that the military takes care of its people".

Most of our excursions included interactive fun. The five most memorable activities included boating, dog training facilities, night vision goggles course, two martial arts moves we were taught, and the youth center. We arrived at the docks for boating and it started raining. Of course we complained, little did we know, it really wouldn't matter at the time. Ten at a time we piled onto the wave tossed boat, each of us with a life jacket around us. The three things they showed us while on the boat were the right turn, left turn, and, the self explanatory, emergency stop. At the dog training facility two of our cadets had time to get attacked by expert, bomb-sniffing dog, but they enjoyed that thoroughly. I'm sure the night vision sounds interesting until you find out about people running into walls, then you just want to laugh. It was a unique course, so simple in the light, but stunt-like in the darkness. Most people read martial arts and think that they know how to drop-kick someone, but the two moves we learned were simple engagements with someone's hands on your shoulders, but I can't go into detail, it's classified. The youth center was just a place on Andrews AFB that our leaders took us to hang out for a few hours, to get rid, of us and have a little fun showing some know-it-all teenagers how to play foosball.

All of us enjoyed our free time.

We visited many historical sites in the Washington D.C. area. One of our adventures included going to the museum of the Marine Corps. It was built to resemble the raising of the American Flag atop Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. It was an adventure in itself. Almost everyone got their own personalized dog tags and a rubber bracelet. The memorabilia in that one place was amazing. Each wall was decoratively covered in a collection of artifacts.

The Air Force Band Museum was a little more traditional with its decor. It had detailed pictures of the history of the band. We were ecstatic when we heard that we were invited into the recording rooms of some of their groups. Each group had their own flare. We toured other buildings including many of those that were on the Marine Corp Base in Quantico.

Touring Washington D.C. was compelling, especially the Vietnam and Korean War Walls and realizing the impact on many American lives. Even then, seeing the physical graves of many of our soldiers at Arlington Cemetery made us stop and stand in silent awe. The tour of the monuments and the rest of the memorials in D.C. were interesting too, but "the cherry on the top of our sundae" was the changing of the guards at the Unknown Soldier Tomb, Silent Drill Team practice and the Sunset Parade. The practice was criticized by their commander, while this young group was flawless during the parade. All of our cadets were astonished both times at their practice and their performance.

Even though the tour of D.C. came to a close, our fun wasn't yet over. We boarded the charter bus back to Georgia and had a fun-filled time at Six Flags Atlanta. We rode water rides, roller coasters, and some of us rode kiddie rides. Almost everyone bought something to commemorate our great adventure. We arrived back in our hometown early the next day, happy to tell everyone about all that had happened during our one week in D.C.

Next year, our leaders have decided to take another group of cadets on more amazing trips.

We hope to see many more cadets go this coming year.