ROTC to fire off cannons

Mackenzie Freund, City Editor

Cadets of Eastern's ROTC Panther Battalion become acquainted with the cannon before the first home football game on Saturday at O'Brien Field.  Those who man the cannon, the "Cannon Crew", fire off the cannon after every touch down made by the Eastern football team.
Jason Howell
Cadets of Eastern’s ROTC Panther Battalion become acquainted with the cannon before the first home football game on Saturday at O’Brien Field. Those who man the cannon, the “Cannon Crew”, fire off the cannon after every touch down made by the Eastern football team.

The ROTC Cannon Crew will be firing its canons for a safety inspection at 5:30 p.m. Thursday between Klehm Hall and the Health Services Building.

Cadet Shane Zobrist, a senior psychology major, has been planning the safety inspection with Safety Officer II Dan Deeken of the Environmental Health and Safety department.

Zobrist said the safety inspections are also a certification for the new members of the cannon crew.

“We usually do the certification once a year so all the new members can get certified at one time,” Zobrist said.
Zobrist said a total of 30 cadets are on the cannon crew, and 20 of them are new members.

“Usually two to three cannons are fired off during the inspections,” Zobrist said. “They are the cannons we fire off during the football games.”

Zobrist said the cannon crew will start the inspection by doing a couple of dry runs before they fire the cannon so the new crew members can get a feel for how the process works.

Zobrist said after the crew members do their dry runs they will begin the firings.

Zobrist said the crew will be firing a couple of 10 gage shotgun shell blanks to make sure the crew knows how the firing works.

Zobrist said both sides of the sidewalk will be closed off when it is time to fire the cannons.

“The sidewalks will be closed off for 10 second intervals when it is time to fire the cannons,” Zobrist said. “We need to make sure nobody is standing in front of them before we fire.”

Zobrist said the cannons are modified 10 gage shotguns that were built by the engineering and technology department.

“They were kind of custom made for us to use,” Zobrist said.

Zobrist said Deeken will be there making sure protocols are met and will be inspecting the cannons and the ammunition before each football game as well.

“I had to work with Deeken to make sure the right papers were filed,” Zobrist said.

Zobrist said he joined the cannon crew when he was a freshman and has been involved with it for four years.

“I was one of the people who has done it the most, so I was elected,” Zobrist said.

Zobrist said planning the inspection took about a day to work everything out.

Zobrist said the cadets will be in their military science lab in the Tarble Arts field from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

 

Mackenzie Freund can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected]