History, Veterans, and Present Day

First, for those of you who were bitching and moaning about the parade today - give yourself a stupid slap. Does it suck to stand around in dress blues? Sure, but I bet it sucked a hell of a lot more fighting on D-Day. Personally, I was disappointed at the low turnout.

"But wait - wasn't she complaining about parades only a few entries ago?" you ask.

Skip the academic stars. Skip the corps awards. Skip the promotions. Hell, skip Labor Day. But today, those were real Veterans. REAL. Not Cadets, not Vermont State Militia, not civilians.

Show a little respect and squeeze yourself into that ridiculous coatee and wear both cover and gloves (who made that crazy call?!) and stand at parade rest for a few minutes in honor of some real soldiers who stuck their necks out so you could be here and skip out.

Most of us have or had grandparents who fought in WWII. There's a time for getting away with what you can, and there's a time to be respectful (like during the National Anthem *cough cough*).

Now I don't know why they'd pick Norwich for this ceremony, but the least we could do is take the time that's already mandatorily open in our schedule and go.

Sound contradictory? It is not. Anyone here needs to learn to separate the inane from the real. I may have become extremely disenchanted with the cadet idea of leadership, but the history of our school is certainly a different story.

Alden founded us essentially giving the finger to West Point. Rock On. Some things never change. The Ring, the Rook Buddies, and the Alma Mater. I know that's what keeps a lot of us from sending out our transcripts to a school with decent food, cell reception, wireless and more than one radio station that comes in.

The Corps may be going to shit now, but that's Chaos Theory - it's always going slowly downhill, right? However, the ideas of citizen soldiery, service, Honor, and massive amounts of alcohol are what we were founded on. While some of these may be disappearing now ...

Remember where you came from and whom you represent.

Have a shot for Alden at the Rustic.

You know you want to ...

I have to say, I fantasize about keying the silver subaru parked in the staff lot behind Harmon every time I walk by it on my way to my 1000 class MWF ... You know, the one with the bumper sticker that says,



That deserves a "Shut the Fuck Up."




You know that old saying:

If you're reading this, thank a teacher.
If you're reading this in English, thank a soldier.
If you're reading this on the internet, thank a geek.

OK, so maybe it's not that old ...

Two Quick Thoughts on a Monday

This is a short one. One good thing and one bad.

Good:

Good job with the ceremony on our JRC. Now a few policy changes and you've got it made.

Bad:

The group of pathetic civilian girls who would not keep their mouths shut during OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM at the ball ... that deserves a "WTF?!?!"

If you go to a sporting event, not a soul moves during the Star Spangled Banner.

If they are respectful, then YOU, who go to a MILITARY COLLEGE (yes, you do, like it or not) and are around Military Customs and Courtesy 24/7 ...

SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Do know better.

That disgusted me. As a soldier. As an American.

It's not a Corps creation, it's something to be respected whether you're Democrat or Republican, military or ditzy, blonde, airheaded civilian.

Keep your trap shut when they play the National Anthem, and you won't have to listen to my "bitch" ass anymore.

That is all.

24 Hours and Counting ...

The countdown has been on since Rook Arrival Day, and it has just dipped below 24 hours...



Norwich may not be ready for the madness that will ensue, but the Juniors certainly are.



On a side note, the sophomore ring committee (ie: next year's JRC) should be aware of the conflicts that arise from deployments, active duty training, and studying abroad.

First, military service. When a soldier, sailor, airman or marine is deployed, in training, or activated stateside, what is that? That is service. They are more than citizen soldiers (what cadets supposedly are going for ...). They are soldiers.

Missing semesters due to Time in Service may not have been a huge issue in the past, but it's only going to become more prevalent.



To say that service to your country is not a substitute for "time in the Corps of Cadets" is not only insulting, but outrageous. Citizen-soldiery here is a stepping stone (often) to a career as the real thing, at the birthplace of ROTC.

Someone, a cadet, please tell me how the true measure of success is rendered? OH! That's right, it's SERVICE-RENDERED. Silly me!

If cadets think for a minute that time spent serving your country is not as productive or valuable as time spent as a 'citizen soldier,' then how much is the Corps worth?



Think about it.

Study Abroad. If the President of the University wants to push Study Abroad for rising sophomores and juniors, no one will want to accept if that time and those credits will not put them at the ceremony with their rook buddies. Give that some consideration.

Sophomores, freshmen, and those to follow:

This is up to you. It's in your hands.

I've fought my fight.

Now, the future is up to you to make a difference.

You say 'Support the Troops.'

Make sure you do.

Essayons.

Can You Tell Me?

The following was snapped on 5 April:



Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?!

If you said either,

A. It's snowing in April

or

B. We're all wearing short sleeves in the snow

I'll give you credit.

They both make about equal sense.

Real Norwich History

Everyone knows the acronym NORWICH:

Name
One
Reason
Why
I
Came
Here

However, do you know where it came from? An alumni encounter from this past weekend revealed the answer.



It is exactly 16 years old. The sophomore class during 1990 made T-shirts with that clever saying on it. So clever, in fact, it is now common knowledge.

This was good news to the alumnus and interesting trivia for all of us.

That's ... that's all I have. For now.

Civilians on Parade?

Food for thought: (tastes better than Sodexho)

The next time that they'd like to ramble on about how important the CIVILIAN leadership is, why don't they have the CIVILIAN STUDENTS present?

Honestly, how many of the CORPS students that are standing there really care? I mean, really ...

Everyone Loves a Parade ...

I love Norwich. I really do. I'll even be graduating with seven semesters completed instead of eight. Let me out.

Spring is here. Warm weather, less layers, people getting kicked off the UP, grilling on the beach and ... you guessed it: more parades.



The Promotion Parade.

I am very confident that I will know exactly what to do as a reliable Squad Member since we felt the need to get up at 0600 TWICE this week and practice standing around. I'm glad we practiced as a Corps for this momentous event. Otherwise, I could have gotten terribly confused as to my crucial part in this process.

Come on now, it was usually "Key Leader Parade Practice" for a reason. If it isn't broken, don't fix it.



I hope this wasn't a, "Well if we have to be awake and outside ... "

And another thing.

This is the time of year when everyone gets their feathers ruffled, gossips, badmouths, and will beg, borrow, and con their way into whatever it is that they think will make them important in the upcoming year. Now, this isn't the only time I will say this here, but

GET OVER YOURSELVES.

This is the Norwich University Corps of Cadets.

It isn't real. It's not the military. You don't get paid. People aren't really relying on you for anything. And if you fell right off the face of the earth, the Corps would not go into a holding pattern in your absence.

They would replace you.

And I guarantee there are some people who wouldn't miss you and at least one person who'll be glad to see you go.

Getting my point? Your jobs next year are little more than a bullet on your resume, if that. If you haven't noticed, there is little, if any, valuable leadership experience here. Whatever it is that you pin on the collar of the uniform that has a wear-out-date of next year (not in service anymore) or slide on the shoulders of the glorified bus-driver suits - ISN'T REAL.

I hate your self-righteous attitudes. Those of you with them probably don't know who you are. I hope someone grabs the courage to tell you. If I see you, I'll make sure to let you know. I'm just looking out for you.

It doesn't make you important or give purpose to your life. If you enjoy what you do, then good for you. Awesome. I'm truly happy for you. There's no need to talk about it. No one else cares either.

And yes, it's lots of fun to stand in back of all the tall people and listen to your names get read off when that's all everyone has been talking about (read as: fighting over) for months.




WHOOOOOOOO - Surprise!!!!

*sigh*

I'll be there ...