The world's only civilian-based blade-only exhibition drill competition, Pro America (ProAm10), brought to you by the International Association of Exhibition Drillers (IAXD) and the World Drill Association (WDA), was a huge success! This year's competition was held at Pasquatank County High School in Elizabeth City Nort...h Carolina. Competitors came from New York, Florida and as far away as Roswell, New Mexico and many other states. There were over 25 competitors in the three categories: Tetrad, Tandem and Solo. Audience and competitor feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. This year's Grand Champion was Army Sgt. Andres Ryan of the Army's Third Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard. Civilian-based? While there are members of each branch of the Armed Forces who have competed in Pro America, some are in Jr or Sr ROTC but most of the competitors are Independent Drillers. Blade-only? ProAm is a bayonet-only drill competition. IAXD: Please visit http://iaxd.org for all of the information. WDA: This year the WDA (WDA Manual) supplied the adjudication process along with trained judges. The judges were trained in the five-caption judging system along with much more. More to come from the WDA in the future.
