Heather Learns To Toss A Flag Like A Cadet — Or At Least Tries! [VIDEO]

I was a band person (among other things) in high school, and I loved it. My band director in New Jersey absolutely loved the drum and bugle corp the "Cadets of Bergen County"...so much so that our high school band uniforms looked almost exactly like theirs.

I decided when I was a sophomore that I wanted to join the Cadets Color Guard when I graduated. Unfortunately, we moved to North Carolina, so I wasn't able to work it out, but today I finally got my chance to twirl like a Cadet!

The Cadets of Bergen County are now known as just The Cadets, and they will be at Drums Along The Waterfront's Tour of Champions! I crashed their practice this morning and got to learn a few moves from two members of the guard. Hannah Vitello (from Tyler, Texas) and Albert Reed (from Ft. Worth, Texas) just joined the Cadets this year. They told me that practices started on May 15, touring started on June 12, and then they head home on August 11. In other words, it's super intense!

Here is my attempt at what they taught me!

The Cadets let me walk around and take pictures of the rest of their practice, and I dug out some old band pictures so you can get a good laugh at my old uniform, etc. (I added pictures of my brothers, who were both in band with me, just so I'm not embarrassed alone!)