It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to march in the parade marking the sesquicentennial (250 years) anniversary of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. So naturally, when given the choice between dedicating my three day weekend (courtesy of Columbus day) to a marksmanship, archery, rock climbing and boating training (which was fun when I attended it last year) or a training which offered the aforementioned opportunity of being able to march in the USMC and Navy’s anniversary parade, I unflinchingly took the latter opportunity. 

For context, I am a Sea Cadet in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, which is something of a Junior Naval ROTC program. It gives me opportunities which are not commonly afforded to many people my age. Opportunities such as attending camps (called training’s) for STEM, where you get to build underwater drones, Culinary training’s (I attended one where I cooked for 200 recruits and cadets aboard the USS Little Rock for 9 days), Archery and Marksmanship, and the main focus of this article: important events such as the Navy’s anniversary parade.

This event was something of an anomaly when held up to the standards set by most training’s. For example, the last time this happened, I doubt the Sea Cadets were developed enough to partake in the event (it was around though, having been formed in the 60’s). Another thing: this training was not really Military Bearing oriented (that means we didn’t have to worry too much about how we conducted ourselves as opposed to something like RT, which is our boot camp), nor was it really too physically strenuous by many means. At most other training’s, we’d be doing PT (physical training)and getting yelled at by petty officers every morning.

As for the training itself, it was really extraordinary. On the first day, I was dropped off at Fort Dix in New Jersey, a Joint base used by all the branches as far as I know. We were sent to our barracks, unpacked our stuff, and got ready to drive to Philadelphia. We were able to take lots of photos of the following events due to the fact that this training allowed us the luxury of having our phones with us. We drove to Philadelphia, and took a tour of the USS Arlington, an amphibious transport dock (it basically brings marines to the shore), which was made of steel from the pentagon after 9/11, much like it’s lookalike the USS New York, which my division is actually named after and was made from steel from the WTC. 

After that, we saw helicopters taking off, which was cool, but the TRUE focus of that evening was when we saw the Navy versus Temple college football game.

We very possibly had the best seats in the stadium. We were able to clearly see the plays, and it was amazing. It was a very close game, with The Naval Academy beating Temple University 32-31. The Navy made a beautiful and wonderfully- executed comeback, one that I was worried they might not be able to make. 

Fast forward to the second day, October 12th. It was raining all day. All day, I’m not even exaggerating. And it wasn’t even light rain, like the type where it’s barely enough for your coach to cancel practice, I’m talking heavy rain. We still marched almost the entire day anyway, because marching in the rain and getting a little uncomfy was by far preferable to embarrassing ourselves on national television the next day. 

After that, we just got our dress blues uniforms inspected. For context here, the Sea Cadets uses three uniforms: Our PT’s, which are used for physical training and as PJ’s when away at training’s, our NWU’s or Navy Working Uniforms; these are the uniforms with camo designs, worn when we’re doing anything that’s not PT, sleeping, or participating in some formal event. Finally, there are the dress uniforms. For the Sea Cadets, we have the iconic Sailor Uniforms. In the Spring and Summer, we wear dress whites: the whiter variation of this uniform. Then, during Autumn and winter, the kind we wear is black instead, but for the life of me, I cannot understand why these BLACK uniforms have been dubbed “dress BLUES”.

As a matter of fact, League Cadets, which are aged 10-13 wear “salts and peppers”; white short sleeved dress shirts with black trousers and the iconic sailor hat. For this parade League cadets wore their NWU’s because it was too cold for them to wear their dress uniforms. Fast forward to the 13th. To the very day, 250 years had passed since the Navy had first been commissioned. We packed all our stuff the night before, so we just had to eat chow, put on our uniforms and get ready to be brought to Philadelphia. It wasn’t really bad at all. In fact, if not for my massive headache I conveniently got right before the parade actually started, I might have enjoyed it. But it DID take, before the parade started about an hour to move down a block. 

We stood in formation, marching forward when necessary, and waiting for our turn to start. In all of this, my company, Charlie, was holding the 27 variations of the National Ensign. I myself held the 16th version- the version with 38 stars on it, if I’m correct.

In the wind, it was so very hard to keep the flag upright, stand at attention and make sure my cover didn’t fly off my head all at the same time.  

 In both the moment and retrospect, this was an amazing opportunity, and I’m really glad I got to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity. Not only be in Philadelphia for the Navy’s 250th anniversary parade, but also march in it. Although the program won’t be able to provide an opportunity quite like this one for another 50 years, there are many other amazing opportunities that await those who join. I apologize for turning this article into a recruiting opportunity, but if any of this sounds enticing to you, then join at www.seacadets.org.