Aim, Fire, Boom. Reload!

"When got in the Cav, I went out for half section, which is the part of the Cav that watches the cannon and the wagon," said Travis Gardner '14, commanding officer of the Parsons Mounted Calvary.  

"That was really cool and unique experience."

Here's how the firing of the cannon happens.

"We have one cadet who listens on a headset the whole time. He listens to a guy in the press box who's controlling the game--it's the same person who tells yell leaders when it's time to do the  yells, they know when it's time to go to commercials, and when the band plays certain songs. We have his feed on our headset.

"There are at least two juniors who are predominantly the ones who fire the cannon, and the seniors in half section are either on headset or the ones commanding us to fire. The senior stands there with his saber, and when he gets word through the headset that the touchdown was real,  he drops his saber and we shoot.

"We can see the game on the big screen, so we'll sit around and talk to people who come up to see the cannon. We'll take pictures with them, but when we see that a touchdown is close--when they get inside the 20--we get ready.

"We put in our ear plugs, get our gloves on, throw a shell in the chamber, close the chamber and at that point, wait fot the guy to get the signal. We also wait for security guy to make sure that no one is behind the cannon.

"The way you put a shell in the chamber is, at the barrel of the cannon, there’s a little handle grip. On that grip there’s a safety you have to squeeze. It opens in a semi-circle motion from the left. It just hinges on the right, and you slide the shell straight in and close it. It's a two part motion. You have to do it fast or else the hand will lock and you have to redo it.

"The first time you shoot it, they tell you to push down harder  than you expect. It’s really cool, an
adrenaline  rush. You can kind of feel shock the ground moving. When it goes off, there's a small ripple."