Marco Afane ’23 (left) and Fernando Afane ’21 from El Salvador
MMA BROTHERHOOD
Twins Evan and Ethan Hicks ’24 joined the corps in the spring 2021 semester.
Blood Brothers These cadets have made MMA a family affair.
Esprit de corps — a French phrase that literally means “spirit of the body” — is the essence of morale, “the brotherhood of a unit,” as MMA Commandant Rick Grabowski puts it. At Missouri Military Academy, the Brotherhood defines the MMA experience. 32
The Eagle
“This 132nd corps — especially the new boys — is starting to gel,” Grabowski says. “They’re starting to develop bonds among each other and they are collectively experiencing what they consider hardships as well as jubilant victories. It doesn’t happen overnight, but over a period of a year, two years, they start to become like brothers. That bonding is a unique thing to watch. We want them to bond and to have that brotherhood.” For eight families who joined MMA in 2020-21, those bonds have come with blood ties, brothers attending MMA together: Fernando and Marco Afane from El Salvador; Pablo and Pedro Garduno from Mexico; Bruno Kuzwayezu and Bano Karameyezu from Rwanda; Brett and Ryan Miles from Dallas, Texas; Dylan and Kellan Mugisha from Rwanda; Phasakorn and Narathorn Cunningham from Conway, Arkansas; Evan and Ethan Hicks from Castle Rock,
