The Air Force Junior ROTC is the only class offered at Perry, which takes place at a different school, and then comes back before before the school day begins. Every day, cadets either drive or take the bus to their zero hour at Basha, and then usually return to Perry before school starts.

Usually.

Instead of the normal 6:25-7:20 zero hour time, the class instead starts at 6:15 and ends at 7:00. This is meant to allow cadets ample time to take the bus back to Perry or drive themselves. Most upperclassmen choose to drive themselves to avoid being late, as is common with riding the bus.

Not everyone who drives has a spot in the Perry lot, though. “The big thing about coming to school after zero hour is that because a lot people don’t have spots, they have to park at FlipSide,” junior and JROTC cadet Gavin McDaniel explains. Drivers usually reach the FlipSide lot around 7:12, and then they still have to get to Perry.

“We have to [Perry parking] spot usually takes one for the team and ends up being late…and we’re probably not in that person’s spot until about 7:20.”

However, with the new auxiliary parking lot in the works, this may bring opportunities for designated AFJROTC parking spots. These spots would drastically reduce the amount of time it would take cadets to reach school, cutting out the FlipSide ‘middleman.’

“[The new parking lot] is going to be 217 parking spots so I don’t think it’s gonna be a big problem,” says principal Dan Serrano. And that’s just the half of it, literally. Serrano hopes to have acquired the second half of the lot between the Seminary building and the Jehovah’s Witness church in order to have the extra lot done in time for next year.

And if spots aren’t available for zero-hour drivers, then what about Honor Guard? Performing at the beginning of sports games, it would be extremely beneficial for cadets to arrive on time and leave early if necessary, as opposed to making the trek across the crowded parking lot and back to FlipSide in full uniform.

As Colonel Cliff Stansell, Senior Aerospace Science Instructor for Basha-Perry-Casteel AFJROTC, puts it, “It’s all about safety, it’s all about keeping people parked close to the school.”

Although no such proposal has been submitted, it is an important issue that has yet to be fully addressed.