usna1985
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Fair point. I will move this to the Life After the Academy Forum, leaving a redirect. Not a perfect match but the closest I could find.
What are some of your greatest memories from the Academy?
- Thread starter farewelltoforeignshores24
- Start date
Fair point. I will move this to the Life After the Academy Forum, leaving a redirect. Not a perfect match but the closest I could find.
farewelltoforeignshores24
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True, which forum do I use instead, other the. The fact I am most certain that USNA is my route to take so all these memories are opening up lot of doors and stuff. It's stuff like this that brings up concordat ions and stuff!
farewelltoforeignshores24
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Oh it's already been done. I should probably read. *facepalm*
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raimius
15-Year Member
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Let's see....USAFA...
Going to bed on I-day thinking, "Well, that wasn't so bad."--then waking up wondering how to door to the room could take the abuse the cadre were delivering without splintering!
When one basic was ordered to give a cadre a Form 341 (disciplinary form) at breakfast and had to say, "Sir, this is not my Form 341."....."Sir, these are not my pants...." The reactions of the cadre were priceless!
Rolling off the highest platform of the "Tiltin' Hilton" on the Confidence Course.
Exploring the tunnels/roof top of Mitch's.
Shooting the breeze with friends outside the dorms on a nice, star-filled summer night.
Playing airsoft in Jack's valley and Ft. Hood with the airsoft club.
Finding new "limits" during recognition.
Seeing the sun rise on the Front Range.
Walking to class realizing it was 10AM and I had already been paid to fly that day!
An F-15D flight through the Alaskan mountains.
The Combat Shooting Team--best group at the academy, IMO.
Seeing President Bush chest bump a new LT at graduation.
GRADUATION.
Going to bed on I-day thinking, "Well, that wasn't so bad."--then waking up wondering how to door to the room could take the abuse the cadre were delivering without splintering!
When one basic was ordered to give a cadre a Form 341 (disciplinary form) at breakfast and had to say, "Sir, this is not my Form 341."....."Sir, these are not my pants...." The reactions of the cadre were priceless!
Rolling off the highest platform of the "Tiltin' Hilton" on the Confidence Course.
Exploring the tunnels/roof top of Mitch's.
Shooting the breeze with friends outside the dorms on a nice, star-filled summer night.
Playing airsoft in Jack's valley and Ft. Hood with the airsoft club.
Finding new "limits" during recognition.
Seeing the sun rise on the Front Range.
Walking to class realizing it was 10AM and I had already been paid to fly that day!
An F-15D flight through the Alaskan mountains.
The Combat Shooting Team--best group at the academy, IMO.
Seeing President Bush chest bump a new LT at graduation.
GRADUATION.
farewelltoforeignshores24
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That's awesome.
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Hmm...USAFA...
Watching them pull the uniform lights out of the ceilings in the halls and seeing the upperclassmen crying that the doolies didn't have to learn them
Putting the F-104 inside Mitch's and watching the reaction of the staff when they went to breakfast and there was this jet sitting inside the building
Exploring the tunnels
Jumping into the pool from the roof catwalks, with minimal lights on
Turning the AOC's office into a fishtank complete with dozens of goldfish
Swimming parties in the shower area
CS-34 vs CS-37 "Slip and Slide" in the halls...
Hearing the mournful call of "I-LOVE-IT-HERE!" during ACQ...
The snowmen on the parade field that "led the way"
Seeing a 4-ship of A-10's "attack" the T-Zo...multiple passes, LOW...photo interpreters said one guy was knife-edged over spirit hill with 6 feet of clearance: they were greeted as hero's at dinner that night!
Being told by my Physics 411 instructor that I had passed the final with enough points that I was going to graduate! (Parents had a letter saying not to plan on it...from the Dean!)
Realizing I was going to graduate!
Graduating!!!!
There are many, MANY more; these are just a few...
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Watching them pull the uniform lights out of the ceilings in the halls and seeing the upperclassmen crying that the doolies didn't have to learn them
Putting the F-104 inside Mitch's and watching the reaction of the staff when they went to breakfast and there was this jet sitting inside the building
Exploring the tunnels
Jumping into the pool from the roof catwalks, with minimal lights on
Turning the AOC's office into a fishtank complete with dozens of goldfish
Swimming parties in the shower area
CS-34 vs CS-37 "Slip and Slide" in the halls...
Hearing the mournful call of "I-LOVE-IT-HERE!" during ACQ...
The snowmen on the parade field that "led the way"
Seeing a 4-ship of A-10's "attack" the T-Zo...multiple passes, LOW...photo interpreters said one guy was knife-edged over spirit hill with 6 feet of clearance: they were greeted as hero's at dinner that night!
Being told by my Physics 411 instructor that I had passed the final with enough points that I was going to graduate! (Parents had a letter saying not to plan on it...from the Dean!)
Realizing I was going to graduate!
Graduating!!!!
There are many, MANY more; these are just a few...
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
farewelltoforeignshores24
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Ahh the military feuds. 
falconchic88
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Anyone remember this?
Heh, I love that pic! As a USAFA grad, married to a USAFA grad, with two USNA kids (one that spent a semester at USAFA) I should frame that and hang that on my wall!
Let's see....USAFA...
Going to bed on I-day thinking, "Well, that wasn't so bad."--then waking up wondering how to door to the room could take the abuse the cadre were delivering without splintering!
When one basic was ordered to give a cadre a Form 341 (disciplinary form) at breakfast and had to say, "Sir, this is not my Form 341."....."Sir, these are not my pants...." The reactions of the cadre were priceless!
Rolling off the highest platform of the "Tiltin' Hilton" on the Confidence Course.
Exploring the tunnels/roof top of Mitch's.
Shooting the breeze with friends outside the dorms on a nice, star-filled summer night.
Playing airsoft in Jack's valley and Ft. Hood with the airsoft club.
Finding new "limits" during recognition.
Seeing the sun rise on the Front Range.
Walking to class realizing it was 10AM and I had already been paid to fly that day!
An F-15D flight through the Alaskan mountains.
The Combat Shooting Team--best group at the academy, IMO.
Seeing President Bush chest bump a new LT at graduation.
GRADUATION.
This.
But especially this: Seeing President Bush chest bump a new LT at graduation.
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I had a good list of 20+ memories, but as I submitted it, there was an error with SAF and I lost it. I'll write another one though.
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This.
But especially this: Seeing President Bush chest bump a new LT at graduation.
I saw a picture of that. What a cool thing!
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Reading some of the things here...just wow its sort of sad that all the academies have gotten a lot "less strict." I can bet that you could ask my entire class and we probably couldn't come up with stories that come even close to being as memorable or funny as ones that previous classes have experienced. Reminds me of old grad stories that I've heard while I was a cadet and yeah...West Point used to be a pretty funny place when upperclassmen didn't have their hands tied behind their back
I don't even really remember seeing my classmates even so much as yell at plebes when I was a firstie
Thanks for some funny stories!
I don't even really remember seeing my classmates even so much as yell at plebes when I was a firstie
Thanks for some funny stories!
scoutpilot
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My class was the last one to be denied food at meals, do uniform drills, and otherwise endure that type of "strictness." Not all of it made us better.
falconchic88
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So I finally had a moment to reflect and think about this question, Here are some of my fondest memories from USAFA class of 1988 (in no particular order):
1. My 4th class roommates. They were awesome and together we made what could have been an unbearable year, FUN! We are lifelong friends.
2. Coming up with unique greetings for certain cadre and upperclassmen (with said roommies), starting in bct and continuing through 4deg year. Said in unison by 3 female basics, we were quite intimidating, lol.
3. Being "Big Bad Basic"
4. Arnold Hall on weekends during 4th class year--"Rock Lobster" and 3:2 beer made for some fun times in what could have been viewed by an outsider (read:civilian college student) as a very lame place to be
5. SAR cushion sledding on snow days
6. Fast neat average...
7. USAFA Gymnastics team--we had some great trips!
8. NOT having to kill the bunny in SERE. I had heard rumors that the cadre tried to get the most squeamish (usually a female)to do the deed so I just acted like I couldn't wait to thump thumper. It worked, they didn't pick me.
9. Bus ride back from SERE, my mouth watering just imagining the real food I'd soon be eating
10. My friend getting lost on her soaring solo and having to land "off the reservation". After that her theme song (that has stuck with her until present day) was "You're Only Human" aka "Second Wind" by Billy Joel, lyrics are fitting for a soaring student who ran out of air.
11. Mitch's Mountain
12. 1985 Falcon Football's 12-1 season, Highlight: Blocked field goal and 77 yd touchdown return to beat Notre Dame!
13. The silly chants cadets would come up with during football games
14. Meeting my best friend 3rd class year, then marrying him 4 days after graduation
15. Ring Dance and 100's night
16. GRADUATION!!
Some not so fond memories, but events I will never forget:
1. The death of one of my BCT roommates during our senior year
2. The Challenger Disaster in 1986. Standing in formation honoring the victims was gut wrenching, but it was magnified knowing one of the astronauts aboard was the father of a fellow cadet.
1. My 4th class roommates. They were awesome and together we made what could have been an unbearable year, FUN! We are lifelong friends.
2. Coming up with unique greetings for certain cadre and upperclassmen (with said roommies), starting in bct and continuing through 4deg year. Said in unison by 3 female basics, we were quite intimidating, lol.
3. Being "Big Bad Basic"
4. Arnold Hall on weekends during 4th class year--"Rock Lobster" and 3:2 beer made for some fun times in what could have been viewed by an outsider (read:civilian college student) as a very lame place to be
5. SAR cushion sledding on snow days
6. Fast neat average...
7. USAFA Gymnastics team--we had some great trips!
8. NOT having to kill the bunny in SERE. I had heard rumors that the cadre tried to get the most squeamish (usually a female)to do the deed so I just acted like I couldn't wait to thump thumper. It worked, they didn't pick me.
9. Bus ride back from SERE, my mouth watering just imagining the real food I'd soon be eating
10. My friend getting lost on her soaring solo and having to land "off the reservation". After that her theme song (that has stuck with her until present day) was "You're Only Human" aka "Second Wind" by Billy Joel, lyrics are fitting for a soaring student who ran out of air.
11. Mitch's Mountain
12. 1985 Falcon Football's 12-1 season, Highlight: Blocked field goal and 77 yd touchdown return to beat Notre Dame!
13. The silly chants cadets would come up with during football games
14. Meeting my best friend 3rd class year, then marrying him 4 days after graduation
15. Ring Dance and 100's night
16. GRADUATION!!
Some not so fond memories, but events I will never forget:
1. The death of one of my BCT roommates during our senior year
2. The Challenger Disaster in 1986. Standing in formation honoring the victims was gut wrenching, but it was magnified knowing one of the astronauts aboard was the father of a fellow cadet.
farewelltoforeignshores24
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I really love hearing all of your stories!! It's great to hear the about the great times and the not so great times!
Katie
BEAT ARMY!
Katie
BEAT ARMY!
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My first post (this one) will be for my first two years of cadet life (as a swab, 4/c cadet and 3/c cadet) and my second post will be the final two years of my cadet life (2/c and 1/c years).
1. Before the Fun -- Before I was an actually cadet, as I started to build it all up in my head. This was before 9/11 or Katrina, so the Coast Guard, at least in Nashville, TN, was a relative unknown. My high school classmates thought it was going to be like the show Baywatch (I WISH!) so I had to learn as much as I could. I watched the old academy videos, did internet searches, found pictures online that I made my desktop background. I saw the Coast Guard Academy as a bright city on the hill. At this point I had turned down the Naval Academy and Merchant Marine Academy, so I was "all in" on CGA.
2. Good Going Mom -- The day before R-day, my mom thought it was a good idea to drive to CGA and check everything out. I was already pretty nervous, didn't really want to eat and had a hard time going to sleep later that night. So there we go, early evening, driving down Bear Drive, the main street the runs past the front of CGA's dorm, Chase Hall and a number of other buildings. My mom slowed to a stop in front of a large group of people in red shirts. After a second "CADRE" was clearly read on the back. I was sure they all saw my face and wanted to kill me. Nice going mom.
3. R-Day -- On R Day we were told we would have five minutes or so to say bye to our parents. We had maybe 30 seconds. I was sure I was going to have a good summer... I barely messed up that first day. HAHA, boy was I wrong.
4. Noisy Lock Boxes -- Every swab had lock boxes. They were big metal boxes we could lock valuables in (over the summer this is where our wallets and drugs would go). Well, my platoon, Yankee-1, screwed up. I'm not sure how. We did something wrong, so we showed up and all of our boxes were stacked in the middle of the p-way (hall way). Out of no where a bunch of other cadre stormed into our pway, kicking down our boxes and getting in our faces. We didn't see that coming.
5. Flag Folding -- We had a motivational flag folding ceremony in our wing area. A red head kid from my platoon was at the center of it. Lucky him! What an honor. The next day he was gone. We had no idea where he went. He quit.
6. EMI - In the fleet it's called "Extra Military Instruction". Most swab summer's called it "Performance Enhancing (or was it Enhancement) Platoon" or "PEP". Because it's usually called PEP, I'll use that here. PEP sucks. Each year there are a number of cadets who either need "motivation" or have attitudes. I'm not sure if I was either, but I went to PEP. Our cadre had a board, and they would check off your name. "Swab LITS, you have three checks for PEP." I was doing great for a long time... and then it all fell apart. I was returning from some place, and double-timing (running) up the ladderwell (stairs) I stopped on the wrong deck (floor) of Chase Hall. I was a little lost, but I ran into a cadre who showed me back to my wing area. As we were walking I saw a cadre I "knew" but had a brain fart and forgot his name. "Good morning sir" I said. "Come on Swab LITS" he said, "You know my name." I just stood there. "I guess you mean 'Good Morning I don't know your name Sir'" So, thinking this was a prompt, I responded with "Good morning I don't know your name sir." Bad move. While our cadre often had us say dumb things, this was not one of those times (much to my regret). "Swab LITS you're going to PEP!" I wanted to cry. Pep, the thing we were all scared of. And here I am being told I have to go. I did. It sucked.
7. "Goodbye" -- Another not so great memory, attached to the PEP memory. In the middle of PEP I was marched through wing areas. Every swab I ran into was told by the group of cadre with me "Swab LITS is going to leave because he can't handle it. He doesn't deserve to be here. Say goodbye to Swab LITS." To which my classmate would of course have to say "Goodbye Swab LITS." It became a blur of "Goodbye Swab LITS" which felt like a scene from a horror flick. The looks from my classmates.... they didn't want to say it, but they had to. They didn't know who I was or why this was happening. I'm sure they were just glad it wasn't them, although we didn't really want to see our classmates treated like this either. This happened the whole way down to the libo van area, where I was told by my cadre to pick the van that would take me to the airport. "Choose your van Swab LITS. You shouldn't be here. You're going home. We'll call your parents. We'll tell them your on your way. We'll tell them how you failed." Well, that broke me down. I was sure there was a different process to get people to leave.... but how could I be sure?
Interestingly enough, years later, after I had left the Coast Guard, I ran into one of my old cadre at CGA. He was a company officer. I had talked to him before, but on this day he told me he regretted what they did, and said that if they tried some of that stuff today, a Court Martial would result.
Did marching around and picking out a van make me a better cadet? No. It messed with my head. For a couple of years I doubted if I really deserved to be there. The next memory didn't help...
8. "Civilian Academy" -- by the same set of cadre I was told I didn't deserve to go to the Coast Guard Academy. For a day or two I had to tape up anything that said "Coast Guard" on my uniform/gym gear. In the place of "Coast Guard" I had to write "Civilian" and when I was asked by anyone why I had all of the Coast Guard references covered up with "Civilian" I was told to say "Because Swab LITS doesn't deserve to go to the Coast Guard Academy."
Now, some of these memories are no fun. But what I realized down the road, cadre are still being trained. Some things they do are great leadership examples. Some really miss the mark.
9. Crap Hat -- As we learned how to wear uniforms, we were introduced to "shirt stays". We wore shirt stays with shorts and gym gear. During a head (bathroom) break, as I sat down, I had to figure out how to deal with the shirt stays running from the bottom of my shirt to my socks. I totally forgot about my cover (hat) which had been tucked into the back of my shorts. As I got up, I looked in the toilet and saw my cover under my latest donation.... yuck.
10. EAGLE -- The Dirty Bird. I was on EAGLE once. There are MANY stories from Eagle, from people sliding on the messdeck (the tables used to be arranged differently, so trays would slide back and forth) to Sea Cadets puking to classmates hooking up. I'll just say, EAGLE was a nice break from Swab Summer. It was still work and it wasn't all fun and games, but it was unique.
11. Chapel -- I'm a Christian. Specifically, I'm United Methodist. I appreciated going to church Sundays. I continued to go after swab summer. The protestant services felt like the United Methodist services I grew up with.
12. First Libo -- The very last weekend of Swab Summer, swabs were allowed to venture, very shortly, outside of CGA. I went to Waterford 9, to see "Road to Perdition." I thought it would be a bad @$$ gangster movie, but it was actually pretty depressing (but very good). Road to Perdition has a special place in my heart.
13. Spirit Missions and 4/c Stuff -- Spirit missions.... do stuff that would get you in trouble, but do it in the name of your company's spirit, and you'll be OK (not always true). I don't remember much from 4/c year. It was a blur of academics and military requirements. We had a fun "drug bust" for the 4/c of Charlie Company, where we searched drugs or contraband in the 2/c rooms. 100th Day was fun (but more fun as a 2/c).
14. Norwich -- I didn't know anything about Norwich University my 4/c year. A number of 4/c were loaded onto buses and sent up to Vermont (or was it New Hampshire.... how cares) to watch the game. They marched to a different beat there. At some point there was a fight between the 4/c from CGA, defending Objee, and the Norwich freshmen. My classmate tore his pants jumping a kid from Norwich... but instead of being yelled at, he was praised. A Norwich father had some pretty nasty things to say on the way out. Apparently the truth (and acceptance rates) alluded him.
15. Sponor Family -- As cadets we could have sponsor families. Sponsor families were people in the New London area willing to take in cadets. It was a safe place to relax, watch a movie, or play on the computer. My sponsor family was great to me and my sponsor brothers and sister.
16. Summer School -- I failed Calc II, but I found out late enough that I went to a 210' cutter for 5 weeks (while most summer school kids did 5 weeks of EAGLE) and then had 5 weeks of summer school. This was our first chance to see the new class. "You're a swab until you see a swab." Sure, we are called 4/c cadets after swab summer, but the saying reflects the transition a cadet makes the first time her/she sees a member of the new class. The moment you realize you're not the lowest cadet (swabs even as 3/c until we saw those new swabs).
17. USCGASSUBA -- Our version of fight club. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy Summer School Underground Boxing Association. We filmed our fights. We had pre and post-fight commentary. We interviewed fighters. And we boxed. My USCGASSUBA career was cut short after my second official fight when I got a concussion mid-fight and kept fighting. Because I needed to pass Calc II and because multiple concussions are bad.... I could fight anymore.
18. Fire? -- My best friend and three semester roommate, celebrating the end of a Formal Room and Wing Inspection, kicked off the party with a fog machine. The fog machine set off the fire alarm for the entire barracks. We evacuated. My buddy told our company commander (Bravo Co.) that he may have set it off. He was masted, had a number of demerits, marching tours and work hours... but he also had a good story.
19. Dating -- I had my first "dark siding" experience my 3/c year. Dark siding is what we called dating another cadet. I'm not sure if they still use that. "Dark Siding" and "Academy Goggles" were "offensive" apparently. But I darksided then and then later. Dark siding was good when it was good, and bad when it ended. Because we all lived in the same building, when a relationship ended, there was no escape.
20. Civies -- Well, no civies.... not for my class. But we did pioneer the 3/c libo blazer outfit. By we, I mean a small committee of my classmates.
21. Minis -- 3/c year we got our mini class rings. Small, girly rings? Sure, but they real, and they had our class crests, so it finally got "real."
The change between 4/c year and 3/c was dramatic. But the transition between 3/c and 2/c was much more important. I'll cover my memories for the next two years in another post.
1. Before the Fun -- Before I was an actually cadet, as I started to build it all up in my head. This was before 9/11 or Katrina, so the Coast Guard, at least in Nashville, TN, was a relative unknown. My high school classmates thought it was going to be like the show Baywatch (I WISH!) so I had to learn as much as I could. I watched the old academy videos, did internet searches, found pictures online that I made my desktop background. I saw the Coast Guard Academy as a bright city on the hill. At this point I had turned down the Naval Academy and Merchant Marine Academy, so I was "all in" on CGA.
2. Good Going Mom -- The day before R-day, my mom thought it was a good idea to drive to CGA and check everything out. I was already pretty nervous, didn't really want to eat and had a hard time going to sleep later that night. So there we go, early evening, driving down Bear Drive, the main street the runs past the front of CGA's dorm, Chase Hall and a number of other buildings. My mom slowed to a stop in front of a large group of people in red shirts. After a second "CADRE" was clearly read on the back. I was sure they all saw my face and wanted to kill me. Nice going mom.
3. R-Day -- On R Day we were told we would have five minutes or so to say bye to our parents. We had maybe 30 seconds. I was sure I was going to have a good summer... I barely messed up that first day. HAHA, boy was I wrong.
4. Noisy Lock Boxes -- Every swab had lock boxes. They were big metal boxes we could lock valuables in (over the summer this is where our wallets and drugs would go). Well, my platoon, Yankee-1, screwed up. I'm not sure how. We did something wrong, so we showed up and all of our boxes were stacked in the middle of the p-way (hall way). Out of no where a bunch of other cadre stormed into our pway, kicking down our boxes and getting in our faces. We didn't see that coming.
5. Flag Folding -- We had a motivational flag folding ceremony in our wing area. A red head kid from my platoon was at the center of it. Lucky him! What an honor. The next day he was gone. We had no idea where he went. He quit.
6. EMI - In the fleet it's called "Extra Military Instruction". Most swab summer's called it "Performance Enhancing (or was it Enhancement) Platoon" or "PEP". Because it's usually called PEP, I'll use that here. PEP sucks. Each year there are a number of cadets who either need "motivation" or have attitudes. I'm not sure if I was either, but I went to PEP. Our cadre had a board, and they would check off your name. "Swab LITS, you have three checks for PEP." I was doing great for a long time... and then it all fell apart. I was returning from some place, and double-timing (running) up the ladderwell (stairs) I stopped on the wrong deck (floor) of Chase Hall. I was a little lost, but I ran into a cadre who showed me back to my wing area. As we were walking I saw a cadre I "knew" but had a brain fart and forgot his name. "Good morning sir" I said. "Come on Swab LITS" he said, "You know my name." I just stood there. "I guess you mean 'Good Morning I don't know your name Sir'" So, thinking this was a prompt, I responded with "Good morning I don't know your name sir." Bad move. While our cadre often had us say dumb things, this was not one of those times (much to my regret). "Swab LITS you're going to PEP!" I wanted to cry. Pep, the thing we were all scared of. And here I am being told I have to go. I did. It sucked.
7. "Goodbye" -- Another not so great memory, attached to the PEP memory. In the middle of PEP I was marched through wing areas. Every swab I ran into was told by the group of cadre with me "Swab LITS is going to leave because he can't handle it. He doesn't deserve to be here. Say goodbye to Swab LITS." To which my classmate would of course have to say "Goodbye Swab LITS." It became a blur of "Goodbye Swab LITS" which felt like a scene from a horror flick. The looks from my classmates.... they didn't want to say it, but they had to. They didn't know who I was or why this was happening. I'm sure they were just glad it wasn't them, although we didn't really want to see our classmates treated like this either. This happened the whole way down to the libo van area, where I was told by my cadre to pick the van that would take me to the airport. "Choose your van Swab LITS. You shouldn't be here. You're going home. We'll call your parents. We'll tell them your on your way. We'll tell them how you failed." Well, that broke me down. I was sure there was a different process to get people to leave.... but how could I be sure?
Interestingly enough, years later, after I had left the Coast Guard, I ran into one of my old cadre at CGA. He was a company officer. I had talked to him before, but on this day he told me he regretted what they did, and said that if they tried some of that stuff today, a Court Martial would result.
Did marching around and picking out a van make me a better cadet? No. It messed with my head. For a couple of years I doubted if I really deserved to be there. The next memory didn't help...
8. "Civilian Academy" -- by the same set of cadre I was told I didn't deserve to go to the Coast Guard Academy. For a day or two I had to tape up anything that said "Coast Guard" on my uniform/gym gear. In the place of "Coast Guard" I had to write "Civilian" and when I was asked by anyone why I had all of the Coast Guard references covered up with "Civilian" I was told to say "Because Swab LITS doesn't deserve to go to the Coast Guard Academy."
Now, some of these memories are no fun. But what I realized down the road, cadre are still being trained. Some things they do are great leadership examples. Some really miss the mark.
9. Crap Hat -- As we learned how to wear uniforms, we were introduced to "shirt stays". We wore shirt stays with shorts and gym gear. During a head (bathroom) break, as I sat down, I had to figure out how to deal with the shirt stays running from the bottom of my shirt to my socks. I totally forgot about my cover (hat) which had been tucked into the back of my shorts. As I got up, I looked in the toilet and saw my cover under my latest donation.... yuck.
10. EAGLE -- The Dirty Bird. I was on EAGLE once. There are MANY stories from Eagle, from people sliding on the messdeck (the tables used to be arranged differently, so trays would slide back and forth) to Sea Cadets puking to classmates hooking up. I'll just say, EAGLE was a nice break from Swab Summer. It was still work and it wasn't all fun and games, but it was unique.
11. Chapel -- I'm a Christian. Specifically, I'm United Methodist. I appreciated going to church Sundays. I continued to go after swab summer. The protestant services felt like the United Methodist services I grew up with.
12. First Libo -- The very last weekend of Swab Summer, swabs were allowed to venture, very shortly, outside of CGA. I went to Waterford 9, to see "Road to Perdition." I thought it would be a bad @$$ gangster movie, but it was actually pretty depressing (but very good). Road to Perdition has a special place in my heart.
13. Spirit Missions and 4/c Stuff -- Spirit missions.... do stuff that would get you in trouble, but do it in the name of your company's spirit, and you'll be OK (not always true). I don't remember much from 4/c year. It was a blur of academics and military requirements. We had a fun "drug bust" for the 4/c of Charlie Company, where we searched drugs or contraband in the 2/c rooms. 100th Day was fun (but more fun as a 2/c).
14. Norwich -- I didn't know anything about Norwich University my 4/c year. A number of 4/c were loaded onto buses and sent up to Vermont (or was it New Hampshire.... how cares) to watch the game. They marched to a different beat there. At some point there was a fight between the 4/c from CGA, defending Objee, and the Norwich freshmen. My classmate tore his pants jumping a kid from Norwich... but instead of being yelled at, he was praised. A Norwich father had some pretty nasty things to say on the way out. Apparently the truth (and acceptance rates) alluded him.
15. Sponor Family -- As cadets we could have sponsor families. Sponsor families were people in the New London area willing to take in cadets. It was a safe place to relax, watch a movie, or play on the computer. My sponsor family was great to me and my sponsor brothers and sister.
16. Summer School -- I failed Calc II, but I found out late enough that I went to a 210' cutter for 5 weeks (while most summer school kids did 5 weeks of EAGLE) and then had 5 weeks of summer school. This was our first chance to see the new class. "You're a swab until you see a swab." Sure, we are called 4/c cadets after swab summer, but the saying reflects the transition a cadet makes the first time her/she sees a member of the new class. The moment you realize you're not the lowest cadet (swabs even as 3/c until we saw those new swabs).
17. USCGASSUBA -- Our version of fight club. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy Summer School Underground Boxing Association. We filmed our fights. We had pre and post-fight commentary. We interviewed fighters. And we boxed. My USCGASSUBA career was cut short after my second official fight when I got a concussion mid-fight and kept fighting. Because I needed to pass Calc II and because multiple concussions are bad.... I could fight anymore.
18. Fire? -- My best friend and three semester roommate, celebrating the end of a Formal Room and Wing Inspection, kicked off the party with a fog machine. The fog machine set off the fire alarm for the entire barracks. We evacuated. My buddy told our company commander (Bravo Co.) that he may have set it off. He was masted, had a number of demerits, marching tours and work hours... but he also had a good story.
19. Dating -- I had my first "dark siding" experience my 3/c year. Dark siding is what we called dating another cadet. I'm not sure if they still use that. "Dark Siding" and "Academy Goggles" were "offensive" apparently. But I darksided then and then later. Dark siding was good when it was good, and bad when it ended. Because we all lived in the same building, when a relationship ended, there was no escape.
20. Civies -- Well, no civies.... not for my class. But we did pioneer the 3/c libo blazer outfit. By we, I mean a small committee of my classmates.
21. Minis -- 3/c year we got our mini class rings. Small, girly rings? Sure, but they real, and they had our class crests, so it finally got "real."
The change between 4/c year and 3/c was dramatic. But the transition between 3/c and 2/c was much more important. I'll cover my memories for the next two years in another post.
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