Rony Parada passed away on June 1, 2012. He was a dear friend of mine in our school JROTC program. My last memory of him was talking to him after the CoC about his duties next year of being a Company Commander. I knew he would have made me proud. There will be a big void in the JROTC program next year and in all of our hearts. Rony was athletic, handsome, intelligent, charismatic, and a caring person. I remember every Raider practice when he would volunteer for even the littlest pesky details nobody wanted and never complained. He would always encourage you to never quit and would never leave anybody behind. In his final moments he was a hero trying to save his little brother struggling in the lake. You’ll never be forgotten my friend. Rest easy.
Bravo Company Football Team Champions. Which requires some Tebowing for celebration.
For our JROTC Battalion the Football challenge is the most important. We, Bravo Company, played first against Charlie Company. I was the quarterback for most of the game. We scored on our first drive and stopped Charlie on their drive with a turnover on downs. With almost 2 minutes left on the clock we drove the ball all the way to their 40 yard line. With less than 30 secs left I threw it to my boy, Joytar Safar, who sealed the game away with a remarkable touch down. Final score 2-0. Then afterwards we watched Alpha vs. Delta. It was embarrassing how badly Delta got crushed. They lost the game 4-1, Alpha with the V. Followed by that game Charlie vs Delta to see who was 3rd and 4th. Delta Company got killed once again. Then, it was the champions game. Honestly probably the most memorable game I’ve played. We won the coin toss and choose to receive. From the 20 yard line drove it all the way down and scored. Alpha came back with some vengeance and scored in less than 2 minutes. Our defense was struggling because one guy, Guerrero, did not cover his man. The guy scored a touch down wide open. The score now was 1-1 and we had the ball with 7 minutes remaining. Once again we drove the ball all the way down the field and scored with a fade route to my boy, Joytar Safar, again! Now up by one we kicked off the ball to Alpha again. Same thing happened and our blown coverage enabled them to score with less than 2 minutes. Tied up 2-2 we were receiving the kickoff with 1:07 left on the clock. I must say I was pretty darn nervous. The first pass I threw was a near interception. As we marched down the field with the clock ticking we ended up in the 3rd and goal with 6 secs left in the game. This down was either to win the game or go to overtime. Ran the clock all the way down to zero and threw it. The one person that did not get a catch the whole game and blew our coverage on defense caught the game winning ball. Guerrero with the clutch performance sealed the victory 3-2. I must say this game is one to remember. So many emotions were being exchanged throughout the game and afterwards. Everybody celebrating and cheering. After all the commotion was over I was talking to the ref, Sgt. Ware, when my company sneaked and poured the water cooler on me. So thankful that I didn’t break under the tremendous pressure.
Today was extremely fun. Except for the CoC. We had 4 challenges, Camouflage Net Set Up, Tug of War, Football, and Humvee Pull. Bravo Company represented today winning the most important challenge, football, when nobody thought we could do it. I believe we got 2nd in the Humvee Pull. We came third place in both the Tug of War and Camouflage Net Challenge. I’m pretty sure we grabbed 2nd place today overall. I’ve been in the sun for so long I have 3 different tan lines! Pretty sure I have sun burn as well.
