How will I cope?

[deshawnjamison]

I'm a Georgia boy. Born and raised in SE Georgia, where it is hot and humid. If I were to be accepted into Norwich University, in Northfeild, Vermont. I do I coup, with the climate, and adjust to this quickly?

[pointguard]

afterall, that is a point of the exercise of growing into the military world imo.

[deshawnjamison]

But how can I start now?

[CitadelGrad]

Find a meat locker and stay in it until you have icicles on your scrotum.

Jeez dude, you're talking about Vermont, not Antarctica. You'll get to wear coats and gloves. You'll be living in barracks, not an igloo. Just deal with it.

[EDelahanty]

Originally Posted by CitadelGrad

Find a meat locker and stay in it until you have icicles on your scrotum.

...." he retorted frostily.

DJ, with a relentless heat wave engulfing the nation, you won't get much sympathy on this particular subject. Still, some people have found creative ways to deal with brutal northern winters, including Robert Service (1874-1958).

The Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell."

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;
It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
"It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold, till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet 'tain't being dead — it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it's up to you, to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows — Oh God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May."
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared — such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; ... then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear, you'll let in the cold and storm —
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

[deshawnjamison]

Thanks you guys

[deshawnjamison]

Thanks you guys. So how do I prepare?

[bjkuds]

Originally Posted by deshawnjamison

Thanks you guys. So how do I prepare?

Basically you have to trust that Norwich is aware that most people don't do well at 20 below regardless of where you are from. They will supply what you will need to cope. There isn't a lot you can do to really prepare.. It will take time to get acclimated to a climate change. I remember moving to Florida from the North East and laughing at the people wearing coats at 60 degrees and I was in shorts. The next winter I was wearing a coat as well Moving back north was similar.. It just takes time in the environment. I would make sure you take vitamins etc to build yourself up, and be in the best physical shape possible but you won't be the only one that is not used to the VT weather that is for sure. Freezing yourself won't thicken your blood.. that is pretty much a wives tale anyway.

[deshawnjamison]

I have.....
5 years of jrotc
2.9 gpa
Wrestler
Black belt in various martial arts
Boxer
Community service
Work experience
Leadership experience
21 on ACT
joining a club or two when we get back to school
8 letters of recommendation
63 on ASVAB.....

I know my GPA isn't the best but, alot has happened, and I have had to come through adversity time, and time again. It would mean the world for me to get in.

[NorwichDad]

Originally Posted by deshawnjamison

I'm a Georgia boy. Born and raised in SE Georgia, where it is hot and humid. If I were to be accepted into Norwich University, in Northfeild, Vermont. I do I coup, with the climate, and adjust to this quickly?

If you succeed at Norwich, understand that you will have to recite this oath to become an officer in the United States Army.

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, despite the temperature outside; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

Dude, you will be alright, relax and calm down.