Fish Drill Team practices precision drills in the Quad three times a week, under the guidance of upperclassmen.

Fish Drill Team continues tradition, wins nationals

Texas A&M brings in fourth consecutive championship from Tulane competition

By: Nick Badger

Posted: 2/28/08

The Corps of Cadets' Fish Drill Team won its fourth consecutive national championship at Tulane University in New Orleans on Feb. 1.

It has competed in the championship five times, and has placed first the past four times.

The drill team won two of the six competitions at the Mardi Gras Drill Meet, giving it enough points to claim first in the overall competition.

"Many military ROTC universities like Norwich and Citadel compete, but their drill teams have members from all four different classes. Ours is the only drill team that is all freshman," said Lane Harding, a senior electrical engineering major and drill team adviser. "We take the freshmen from September until they compete in February, and we teach them everything they need to know and they get better and they go beat all those guys that have been doing it for years."

The 2008 drill team is made up of 44 members and is joined on a voluntary basis. Most of the members had no prior drill experience before joining the team. The team regularly practices three times a week; however, practices increase as competition gets closer.

"A lot of people came out for the first day and by the second day it was cut in half. Then it just kept getting smaller and smaller until what we have now," said Fish Drill Team Commanding Officer Josh Bates, who is a freshman recreation, park and tourism sciences major.

"The first time they went back to the Tulane competition they basically had no idea what to expect. They just knew how to drill and they took second place overall. Every time since we have gone back there we have taken first," Harding said. "There is a lot more pressure every year we go back. Everyone is gunning for us more and more so it gets a lot tougher."

The drill team tries to perform in as many events as possible, such as Aggieland Saturday, to showcase their skill and help recruit.

"It's very rewarding. You make a lot of good friends and you obviously get in shape and it's just a very rewarding experience. A lot of people don't go through what we go through," Bates said.

"The more I did it, the more I liked it," said Harding, in regards to his four years of experience with the drill team.

Bates had only trained for two and a half weeks as a commanding officer before going to the competition. He said he hopes to be one of the seven sophomores who remain on the team to train the new freshmen and help them win the next national competition.

"It's definitely a challenging team to be on - the more you go out there and do it, the more you fall in love with it," Bates said. "It becomes a big part of your life because you spend so much time doing it."