Members of Boston University’s Air Force ROTC were chosen to perform Color Guard duties at Fenway Park on Wednesday and Thursday, which entailed marching onto the field and presenting both the American and Canadian Flags to home base before the first pitch.
Drill Team Commander Travers de Groot, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, only had a little time to assemble teams for the two Red Sox-Blue Jays games after being asked by Fenway organizers to perform just last Thursday, but said the timing was not a problem and the teams “jumped at the opportunity.”
“I’m okay with a little crunch time,” he said. “If we get do to it, then no complaints here.”
On Wednesday, six cadets of various class years performed the Color Guard duties, which included presenting the American Flag to home base during the American Anthem and the Canadian Flag during the Canadian Anthem. Of about 25 seniors who will soon be commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants, six were chosen to perform at Thursday’s game.
“There’s only a couple of weeks left before they graduate, and this is one last special thing for them to do,” de Groot said, adding that as commander, he performs with both teams.
Cadets were selected for both teams based on their past experience performing the Color Guard duties, which involve a few hours of practice each week and performances at various events and competitions.
CAS senior Kristen Casaubon, who has performed Color Guard duties at other Air Force events and at Gillette Stadium – home of the New England Patriots – said her group planned only to practice Thursday to make sure they were “in sync.”
Maureen Fromuth, a CAS sophomore, who performed Wednesday night, agreed that experience was important, adding that because they train very consistently, they can “get five people and put them out there on the field and have them look really sharp.”
CAS senior Joe Chapa said de Groot chose “people who are trustworthy, who go out of their way to do things right.”
Chapa, who participated when BU’s Air Force ROTC performed the Color Guard at Fenway once before – in fall 2004 – said the chosen ones were lucky.
“Very few people get to do stuff like that,” he said. “You watch the game on TV and that’s one thing, then you go sit there in the stands, and that’s cool too. But then you get out there on the field — it’s really quite a thrill.”
Fromuth said she did not have time to be nervous before the game.
“It was so windy that our flags were blowing all over the place,” she said. “We were more worried about our flags flying across Fenway than we were about just going out there.”
For Fromuth, being on the field wasn’t even the best part of Wednesday night. She said that as the cadets walked in their uniforms through the stands, the crowd gave them a round of applause. Several spectators even personally thanked them, she said.
“We don’t necessarily get those kinds of reactions a lot,” she said. “But when we get them it means a lot, because it’s recognition of what we do.”
Chapa said he was proud to represent the Air Force, U.S. Military and the United States of America for the crowd at Fenway.
They all got to see lots of behind-the-scenes action, Fromuth said. de Groot, a self-proclaimed “die-hard Sox fan,” said he hopes to see more of the team tomorrow night.
“I might just have to lose my way and end up over by the Red Sox bench,” he said.
And considering the team had so little time to prepare, Fromuth said, “It went extremely well.”