R-Day Rehearsal (for interested juniors or younger)

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AcademyFriend1

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Along with summer seminars, another great resource for young people interested in the academies is the "R-Day Rehearsal" (or "Mock R-Day") held at West Point. The Friday before the new plebe class reports for R-Day, USMA holds a "dress rehearsal" in which volunteers play the role of the cadet candidates -- learning to march, salute, say their "four responses," and even report to the immortal Cadet in the Red Sash! You can't do it if you're in the incoming plebe class, but it would be a great activity for those going into their junior year in high school and looking at USMA. Also an excellent activity to give family members just the tiniest taste of the experience. I enjoyed it very much myself, and realized that it is surprisingly difficult to remember and correctly recite even short military sentences under pressure! I do still remember the formula though . . .("Sir! New Cadet Clueless reports to the Cadet in the Red Sash for the first time as ordered!") Call the Academy Public Affairs office in late May to find out about signing up.
 
Did this myself quite a few years ago! I never did get the full reporting-in part correct. And I called a ma'am a sir.....ohhh......don't ever do that! :frown:
If you live anywhere in a driveable radius from WP and have in interest in what it is like being a cadet on R-Day, this is the closest a civilian will ever get. A very interesting, stressful, yet fun morning. Should be announced in late May or early June.
 
roughly how many days/weeks before the actual R-Day is it typically?
 
parentalunit2 said:
Did this myself quite a few years ago! I never did get the full reporting-in part correct. And I called a ma'am a sir.....ohhh......don't ever do that! :frown:
If you live anywhere in a driveable radius from WP and have in interest in what it is like being a cadet on R-Day, this is the closest a civilian will ever get. A very interesting, stressful, yet fun morning. Should be announced in late May or early June.
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I did this last year just to see what it was like for my son. During the rehearsal they were doing some medical screening, took me aside and asked me to come up with a medical problem that I did not have since getting an acceptance. Mind you, I am 52 and a man. I was standing in front of 20 other pretend cadets, a captain who was overseeing the rehearsal, a nurse and a doctor. When they asked me of my condition, I told them I was pregnant. man, you should have seen the captain cracking up....

One thing the rehearsal did was give me an inside look at internal bowels of West Point.
 
This sounds like an awesome idea. Maybe I'll convince my parents to let me go. I'm about 3-4 hours from West Point.

cadetdad said:
I did this last year just to see what it was like for my son. During the rehearsal they were doing some medical screening, took me aside and asked me to come up with a medical problem that I did not have since getting an acceptance. Mind you, I am 52 and a man. I was standing in front of 20 other pretend cadets, a captain who was overseeing the rehearsal, a nurse and a doctor. When they asked me of my condition, I told them I was pregnant. man, you should have seen the captain cracking up....

One thing the rehearsal did was give me an inside look at internal bowels of West Point.
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HAHA! That's great! :yllol: That must have gotten some great responses.
 
Ken2012 said:
This sounds like an awesome idea. Maybe I'll convince my parents to let me go. I'm about 3-4 hours from West Point.
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Give it a shot, Ken -- it would be well worth the drive. Your parents might like to participate also -- there were quite a lot of current or prospective USMA parents doing it to get a glimpse at the R-Day experience.
 
I brought up the idea to my dad. He's thinking about it. I would like to see my dad participate in the R-Day rehearsal. :shake:
 
AcademyFriend1 said:
Along with summer seminars, another great resource for young people interested in the academies is the "R-Day Rehearsal" (or "Mock R-Day") held at West Point. The Friday before the new plebe class reports for R-Day, USMA holds a "dress rehearsal" in which volunteers play the role of the cadet candidates -- learning to march, salute, say their "four responses," and even report to the immortal Cadet in the Red Sash! You can't do it if you're in the incoming plebe class, but it would be a great activity for those going into their junior year in high school and looking at USMA. Also an excellent activity to give family members just the tiniest taste of the experience. I enjoyed it very much myself, and realized that it is surprisingly difficult to remember and correctly recite even short military sentences under pressure! I do still remember the formula though . . .("Sir! New Cadet Clueless reports to the Cadet in the Red Sash for the first time as ordered!") Call the Academy Public Affairs office in late May to find out about signing up.
Click to expand...

Do Cadet Candidates from USMAPS also do this?

Added on edit: I meant as "playing New Cadets"
 
I have not heard of USMAPS having a similar R-Day rehearsal. In terms of a candidate for USMAPS participating in the West Point R-Day rehearsal, I don't know of any reason they couldn't if the timing works; the only people who could not take part were incoming plebes in that year's class.
 
During the 4 years of having a cadet at West Point, this could have been the most fun we had. We did it the summer she was Beast cadre so we were able to see her in action on R Day also. It was an absolute blast. We went through the barber shop, we learned to march (poorly, I must admit), and we really messed up reporting to the Cadet in the Red Sash. We still laugh about some of the active duty soldiers giving the cadre a tough time.

If there is any chance at all that you can be a volunteer, you won't regret it.
 
momoftwins said:
During the 4 years of having a cadet at West Point, this could have been the most fun we had. We did it the summer she was Beast cadre so we were able to see her in action on R Day also. It was an absolute blast. We went through the barber shop, we learned to march (poorly, I must admit), and we really messed up reporting to the Cadet in the Red Sash. We still laugh about some of the active duty soldiers giving the cadre a tough time.

If there is any chance at all that you can be a volunteer, you won't regret it.
Click to expand...
The time I did it, one of my fellow pretend-New Cadets had to report to a Cadet in the Red Sash who was her own son! She said it was hard to tell who was more nervous, mom or son, but it gave them the the story of a lifetime!
 
AcademyFriend1 said:
I have not heard of USMAPS having a similar R-Day rehearsal. In terms of a candidate for USMAPS participating in the West Point R-Day rehearsal, I don't know of any reason they couldn't if the timing works; the only people who could not take part were incoming plebes in that year's class.
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Sorry about the confusion, I'm talking about the incoming 208 Cadet Candidates showing up to USMA a couple of days before the rest of the class of 2014 shows up. I had heard that they also use those CC's for "mock plebes"
 
Maximus said:
Sorry about the confusion, I'm talking about the incoming 208 Cadet Candidates showing up to USMA a couple of days before the rest of the class of 2014 shows up. I had heard that they also use those CC's for "mock plebes"
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Good question. I am not sure, but did not see a big group who looked like Prepsters when I did it. The brass also made it very clear they did not want incoming plebes taking part in the rehearsal, so I am not sure they'd differentiate and have the Prepsters take part. Possibly the USMAPS CCs take part in another similar logistical run-through without the Cadet in the Red Sash element?
 
AcademyFriend1 said:
Good question. I am not sure, but did not see a big group who looked like Prepsters when I did it. The brass also made it very clear they did not want incoming plebes taking part in the rehearsal, so I am not sure they'd differentiate and have the Prepsters take part. Possibly the USMAPS CCs take part in another similar logistical run-through without the Cadet in the Red Sash element?
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IIRC, years past they did use Prepsters but, maybe you're right, they re-thought that out and decided not to prep the prepsters anymore. :shake:
 
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