The journey was canceled because funds were not available for their bus rent.
The way it was planned, Alondra Vera will spend four days with her fellow Jrotc cadets from Coco -High School this weekend, navigating the unwanted forests with a compass, learning to shoot a bow and arrow, and to see who was more likely to look at the history of the military.
Instead, cadets were told just two days before leaving for the annual leadership retreat at Camp La-Noi Chi Defense Department Travel costs, event canceled.
On February 26, a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to make federal spending more transparent. After the order, The Defense Department issued a memo Saying, the use of all government -issued travel cards was immediately suspended by civilian employees of the DOD, except for direct support for military operations or the permanent change of the station. Subsequently, The cost limit on travel cards was reduced to $ 1.
Although the test coordinator in Coco High and a Chaparon, Matt Daily, said that the cadets’ journey was already paid, no funding for the cost of traveling to the camp.
“It’s a real shame,” Daily said.
For Elondra, who went to the Florida city of Paisley, two last time, the news was unexpected.
“It was very surprising,” he said. “Many people were slightly upset, especially since we had a group of new people, so it was disappointing.”
How is JRTC funded?
Every year, Congress allocated JRTC Funds As part of the DOD operation and rehabilitation and the budget of military and personnel. Funds are used for instructor salaries, uniforms, cadet travel, training aids, textbooks, educational materials and other operating costs. Schools provide each unit with classroom space, facilities and administrative support. According to the DOD Camp petrol, the total funding for the 2025 fiscal year was $ 439,077,000.
Under the US law, the Department of Defense must not be less than 3,400 JRTC units and should maintain more than 4,000 units, though in 2020, the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service recommends increasing the number of units by 2031 to 6,000.
How are the freezing Jrotc affecting?
As part of President Trump’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce, Defense Department officials have said they plan to reduce the manpower from 5 % to 8 %. The agency has also implemented the freeze of rent. In multiple departments, Credit cards are frozen or canceledDodge announced in an X post March 11 that it had canceled more than 200,000 official credit cards. This includes DOD travel cards, who used to pay for a bus fare for JRTC cadets in Breward.
The children of Space Coast and Volosia usually read in Lake County Camp La-N-C, Daily said. They estimate that around 200 students attend every year.
Camp is a JLCL camp, or a Cadet Leadership Challenge. According to the organization’s website, the JRTC Army cadets are usually given the opportunity to attend between March and August. These incidents occur worldwide and usually occur in Boy Scout camps or military installations.
Daily said, “Children really work mostly.” Adults are there to monitor, and the military adults are there … to make some goods … adults are like backups for children. “
It is not clear how these deductions or Federal Freez have widely affected Jrotcs, or with the steps taken with the cocoa cadets planned retreat.
JRTC Florida State Drill was canceled because of frozen, According to a report by Wink News. On social media, a high school teacher in Jacksonville, Travis Acos shared a screenshot on March 11 about the cancellation of the competition due to the “prevention of federal government of federal funds”.
This is not just happening in Florida. Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, JRTC Cadets, were ready to participate in the Sergeant. According to the News Enterprise reporting in Kentucky, Memorial Paul C is expected to participate with about 200 teams in the JROTC Memorial Drill Competition, 55 schools. The meeting, scheduled for John Harden and North Harden High Schools south of Louis Will, was canceled due to a freezing of travel cards.
The subject has promoted a significant online conversation between cadets in online forums, cadets have reported its competitions, leading challenges and more have been canceled or more likely to freeze the possibility.
Camp La-N-C: Cadets helping to be more confident
Daily said, ground navigation, barrier courses, take the team member in a dirt, sink himself with a couple pants: in Camp La-No Chi, JROTC cadets have to “shoulder to shoulder” with activated duty service members.
“This is an opportunity, for children who do not know too much to shine and find the potential route of the career,” he said.
“We are a title I school, more than 75 % of our students are free and less lunch, and this is a real opportunity for them to see if they really want,” said Daily. “What I love is that these non -football children have to be seen out there. They are selected to become the battalion leader or anything, and their chest ends.”
There is no active recruitment in the camp, but recruiters and other military members are present to patronize children.
Alondra said the camp is a good way to connect as a team. Although they will still be seen to see local cadets, they will at least lose meeting other units from around the state for this year.
“Camp can help a lot to learn how to achieve leadership skills and work with people as a team,” he said. “I feel like the camp and the JROTC definitely help learning to work with people and really learn to be more confident in themselves as a person.”
Finch Walker is an educational reporter in Florida today. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: _Finchwalker.
