In 2010 Col (Retired) Jonathan Hayes created an endowed scholarship to provide financial support to the Silver Talons Drill Team at Oregon State University. Jonathan enjoyed his time on the armed drill team at Tufts University in Massachusetts from 1960 to 1964, so when he decided he wanted to do something for the AFROTC unit on the OSU campus the drill team was an obvious choice. “I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the young men and women in the AFROTC unit,” said Jonathan. “I’m just glad I don’t have to compete with them!”
The Silver Talons Drill Team has been active at OSU since the early 1960s, when it was formed as a recreational group to perform exhibition drills as a form of AFROTC recruitment. Over the years, it has become a disciplined competitive team that plays a role in developing Air Force officers. Drill team members train for a minimum of seven hours each week in armed regulation and exhibition drill and color guard procedures in addition to handling their ROTC and school curriculum. The team marches in local parades each year and competes in a national drill competition, where the team placed for eight consecutive years.