Recent content by pedro4

USNA Ranking I wonder if the ranking there vs. USMA and USAFA reflects the recent scandals with football players. The onfield success may come with a price.

Nonsense The idea that the academy is not addressing the reality of the new forms of combat is malarkey. How many cadets studied Arabic or Pashtun twenty years ago? How many studied cyber warfare? How many had sessions addressing PTSD, suicide prevention, stress management? And to say...

My cadet was to be at Airborne school right now but it was overbooked and plebes were dropped. So leave, Buckner, and then two weeks in Monterey, CA on some data processing assignment. He has firmly decided to major in Spanish, or engineering, or IT, or history-LOL, it changes every time I see him.

I think that the prospective cadets should look at this a little differently. It is not just about them, but about a community proud to be sending one of their own to such an honored school. A lot of different people helped mold these kids: Parents, teachers, coaches, clergy, etc...and...

Tallbutshort may be correct, but the baseball and hockey programs have been really strong. Club sports like Rugby, boxing, team handball are very strong. I laugh to think about the recruiting pitch: " We will make your life miserable for four years, and then you are not allowed to go pro...

Question: I have heard that the president can offer amnesty for rules violations. Is this just for the graduates or for the entire corps?

Virginia is difficult From what I read, Virginia is a tough place to get a nomination. Your grades and extracurriculars are outstanding. Take the ACT to see if you score higher than the SAT.

Test scores are becoming very important as the SA's try to compare themselves to the Ivies. Work on getting those up.

Why would the SA's be on? These are for schools fishing for students. Applications to the SA's are up huge this year.

Take a writing class You will be writing lots of papers! You will write papers in PE class!

I have a different response Not a mom, but if someone tried to play my heartstrings I would ask them: "How can you send your child to a party school to drink, smoke weed and party his way to a degree that might not even get him a job. I bet they don't even have 5:00 AM drug testing!" I truly...

My plebe had a prior service veteran in his beast company. They become assistants to the upperclassmen. It is my understanding that, depending on your chain of command, there is not that much correcting going on anyway.

Spanish could be very useful as a platoon leader, but many cadets take Arabic to prepare for where we are fighting. I believe that our officers also get additional language instruction after commissioning.

Snowstorm Some instructors Nordic skied to the campus this week so that classes would not be canceled-there is apparently no such thing as a snow day on a military base. But the mess hall and other services were understaffed, so that is probably why paperwork is lagging.

Bring it, during Beast you may be in the talent show. Once classes start and there is little down time, the plebes like playing together on weekends and on getaways.