Military Club
Sgt. Gabbard showing student (Elijah Burch) the trucks controls
April 2, 2020
Military Club is a Mt.Vernon club that was recently started by Mr. Larkins and Sgt. Gabbard. The club meets every Wednesday from 4-6 pm after school and teaches about things like military information, nutrition, finance, and fitness. In an average meeting, an hour is spent doing physical exercise, and then the other hour is spent learning information related to leadership and leading a militaristic lifestyle.
The information they learn consists of life skills like preparing and eating healthy food while also managing money. Although they also discuss topics related to the military like the history of the military and enlistment into the forces.
Another topic that they focus on is the JROTC which stands for The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. This program is supported by the United States Armed Forces and is mostly for high school-aged students. It focuses on traits that make people better citizens in order to help the people in the program become better leaders in their communities.
“I wanted to partner together with the Indiana National Guard to help start the military club to get more students involved,” Mr. Larkins said. He also hopes that, “one day Mt. Vernon High School can have a JROTC program.”
Mr. Larkins wants Mt. Vernon to be able to have that program within the next two years.
Along with learning information, they go on field trips to military-oriented places like Camp Atterbury, Greenfield Armory, and on helicopter trips. During these trips, they learn how to do things like use military-grade weapons to apply their knowledge in real use.
The club meets in the cafeteria every Wednesday between 4 and 6. If interested, contact the Military Point of Contact, SSG Joseph D. Gabbard, by phone: 765-309-5598 or email: [email protected]. The in-school advisor is Mr. Larkins, one of the school counselors, contactable at his email: [email protected].
