The weather cleared on Sunday for the annual Veterans' Day Parade in San Franisco. Participating were local Posts from the American Legion, JROTC and The Singing Blue Stars of the USS Hornet among all the groups.

This year the young men and women from the San Francisco JROTC participated. Among others, JROTC from Mission and Galileo High Schools marched in a demonstration of the leadership, discipline and self-confidence the JROTC program instills in its members.

Currently, the JROTC program throughout San Francisco is under attack by the current members of the School Board. As of the time this article is posted, the School Board has curtailed future participants in JROTC, thereby strangling the growth of the program 'at the vine'. The loss of JROTC is clearly a deleterious blow to the students of San Francisco.

A majority of board members say the benefits of the 90-year-old program are not worth the association with the U.S. military, an institution they consider discriminatory, homophobic and at odds with the mission of public education.

Nearly 1,600 San Francisco cadets go through JROTC roll call each day.

"There's a lot of mixed emotion on campus right now," Smith said. "A lot of the students are torn up about it. … It's a real depressed situation."

Luis Aguilar, a member of the Galileo High School drum corps, said he can't imagine not having the drum corps next year.

"I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning thinking about this parade; I love the drum corps," said Aguilar, who is 17.

Danielle Meskell sat on the steps of City Hall and watched her son Thomas, 14, march as part of the Galileo JROTC unit as the parade came to a close.

Meskell, 37, who also participated in JROTC at Galileo, but did not serve in the military, said she hopes the school board decides to preserve the programs.

"The kids learn leadership, they learn how to present themselves and apply themselves; it's a very good thing for them."