Marching in a straight line is hard enough, but marching in unison with 200 members of the 501st dressed in full stormtrooper armor on a football field while George Lucas watches your every step takes quite a lot of skill. All I've ever done is eaten a grilled cheese sandwich two tables down from George in the lunch room, and even then I think I dropped my napkin a few times. Luckily, he never noticed.

The first day of marching practice you could sense a level of excitement in the hotel. That morning after a quick breakfast, everyone loaded onto the buses that would take us all to a local high school football field for what would become our second home for the next 4 days. Drill instructors were handselected for their experience in training new recruits in the Army and then troopers were divided into marchers and flag bearers. And I made sure to snap as many photos as possible of the 501st members learning the basic training that would wow fans at the actual parade merely days later.

The man to watch during these practice sessions was none other than Colonel Anthony Toledo who was asked by various 501st leaders to help them train in uniform. When I interviewed Col. Toledo for starwars.com, he had said this of the small group of troopers he worked with, "For me, as a long time Drill and Ceremonies instructor, I was amazed how quickly and how motivated everyone was during the training," Toledo says. "I was impressed with the members' professionalism, and what usually takes the average Army trainee weeks to learn we were able to accomplish in just a matter of a few days or even hours."

The passion and dedication of the troopers -- many of whom had no previous military or marching experience -- was inspiring. It's difficult to get everyone to march at the same time and pace, but imagine doing it in helmets that block views and muffle sounds, as well as a uniform that isn't normally built to withstand practices that last for full days, not to mention marching in an extremely long parade route with turns and sudden stops!

That first day, the troopers spent the morning lining up and learning to take commands from their various drill instructors. Each instructor, whether he was from the U.S., Canada or the UK, had his own specific way of training and it was obvious. Some where harsher than others and some instructors should be given their own TV shows to host. Those reading this blog who were there know exactly who I'm talking about.

Once marching instructions were underway, the flags were handed out for the other troopers in flag corp. While many of the 501st member's got to carry their own state or country flag, others were given flags based on the trooper's height. And in true patriotic manner, the four members who wanted to carry the U.S. flag had to flip a coin for the honor. Once the flags where picked and the troopers were lined up, the marching began. Hours of whistle blowing and commands yelled from the drill instructors, and marching back and forth across the football field began. This would be the routine for the next few days all the way up to full dress rehearsal in which George Lucas. But for now, there was no Maker in the stands -- just troopers, a few documentary camera guys, the marching band and Lucasfilm folks like myself.

In addition to troopers on the field, the amazing Grambling State University Marching Band began practicing their renditions of three different Star Wars songs that would be performed for the parade. Granted, we all knew this band was chock-full of talented musicians, but we had no idea how entertaining it would be to see in live in front of us. Any of you who have seen the film Drumline will get the marching band style of GSU. They just don't play the songs, they feel them -- with synchronized dance moves and their own renditions of how the songs should be performed.

Plus seeing the flag team and their dancers dressed as Twi'leks (with the headwear made by our own Danny Wagner) gave the performance an authentic Star Wars experience. I had only wished composer John Williams could witness first-hand how his classic renditions instantly get cooler thanks to Grambling. See a clip of them practicing here.

After the troopers had the basics down, they had to practice all they had learned with their helmets on. This was of course the hardest obstacle to tackle. If you've ever worn one of those helmets you easily discover how difficult it is to hear and see.

Seeing the sea of helmets across the field made me smile. And after taking about 300 photos, I realized that if I was this psyched to see them all in formation with just their helmets on then we were all in for one heck of treat when they did their full dress rehearsal on Sunday! For days this was the scene -- troopers unload from the buses, get their buckets on, practice marching for hours, buckets off, break for lunch, buckets back on, march for hours to the yells of, "A Company! LEFT... LEFT... LEFT RIGHT LEFT!" and then back on the bus to the hotel. And all of us watching couldn't get enough of the sight.

In addition to the troopers, characters from the Rebel Legion like Darth Vader, Anakin, Boba Fett, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Rebel Pilot and so on, were marching right alongside them. And even though everyone was tired, sore, and cranky from a few hours sleep a night thanks to bunking 4 to a room with various 501st members who probably had a few snorers among them, it was inspiring to me to see everyone in good spirits every single day. It was easy to see how much they wanted their efforts to pay off and please George Lucas, as well as the millions of fans watching the live broadcast.

On a side note, I have to say some of the most memorable moments happened during lunch time. The troopers relaxed a little, met each other face to face and posed for some of the funniest photos I've ever taken for starwars.com. Whether they were posing with their flags, playing a light game of touch football (in full armor mind you), or giving interviews to the various media that were there to get a cool background story for the parade, the troopers all looked like they were having the time of their lives. Even Col. Toledo had fun wearing a Vader helmet for an added commanding presence. I had a blast taking photos of everything from characters posing for our user-gen photo caption contest to getting that extra-artsy helmet on Astroturf shot.

Lunch time was also when I met quite a few members of the 501st who had either written blogs here on blogs.starwars.com, or were avid readers of starwars.com. What shocked me the most was how many of our international garrison members were fans of what we've been doing on starwars.com. One trooper stood out among them especially, Roy Waung from the Taiwan Formosa Outpost. He's a big fan of the site and was one of the few people who knew me on sight (most people think I'm supposed to look like Bea Arthur thanks to my avatar). He was extremely nice and rather flattering -- asking me to sign his autograph book and taking photos with me. Granted I'm not as famous as my other Lucasfilm coworkers Steve Sansweet or Mary Franklin, but it sure was nice.

After only a few days of practice, the troops were finally ready for the full dress rehearsal for George Lucas. Everyone was dressed in complete costume armor and ready to go. The funny thing was, this was a Sunday and this whole time we had been practicing next to a church -- a BIG church. It became apparent that Sunday morning to quite a few of us that George wouldn't be the only one watching the practice performance. After George arrived to the high school football field, more people who were on their way to the morning services began to trickle over to see what all the excitement was about, including one little fella dressed as a Rebel pilot. Some knew all about the parade, others thought we were shooting the next Star Wars film, and I heard one excited vistor tell his friend on a cell phone that we were shooting a music video with Usher.

But the best scene of the day involved a family with five little boys on their way to church who stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. As soon as the little kids saw the stormtroopers in full costume, not to mention Vader, Darth Maul and Han Solo, they made a run for it. They plopped themselves down right at the base of the bleachers. When their parents rushed over to take them to Sunday church services, the little boys went limp and refused to stand up in true passive resistance fashion. The parents had to literally drag them to church. When you're a kid it's hard to get motivated to get up early and go to Sunday school, and it makes it that much harder when 200 stormtroopers are practicing a march right next door!

The troopers had a brilliant dress rehearsal and George left after taking photos with the garrisons and the marching band. After lunch, and even more photos and interviews with the press, we all piled into the buses and went back to the hotel to eventually watch footage of the days events on various news programs and relax before the big day. But to tell you the truth, as awesome as the parade turned out to be, my favorite part of the trip was hanging out with the troopers at that high school football field day after day at practice. It was at these practices that I got a great sense of the camaraderie between the troopers, their dedication to the difficult task at hand, and their love for what they do as members of the fan elite -- the 501st.