Advantages and Disadvantages of being ICs

TZO gap refers to the differences between the IC's and the NARP's.

SOME IC's will take advantage of the perks they get for being IC's and use their IC status to get out of things.

please note I said SOME, definitely not all.
 
icarus said:
The cool thing about this forum is the varied mix of opinions and experience from different sources.
It's true that the service entails being away from home a lot. It's just a lot to ask 17-18 year old doolies to not be able to go home and be with family while everyone else does because they have to play but that's the commitment needed to make it through whether you're an IC or a NARP. On the other hand, there'll be plenty of time after they graduate and get commissioned to be deployed to some far away base.
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I can not speak for everyone, and my recruiter told me that I was an exception. I loved BMT(Basic Military Training) because of the camaraderie built between the trainees in the tough times. I went through Thanksgiving and had one of the best Thanksgivings ever with another family and my "latrine queen" through BMT. I missed my family, mostly a brother two years older than myself, but I never would trade my experience just to know I will not be away for long periods of time. Anyone who has serious issues about leaving will have a much harder time when you realize how far you are from home. I believe fellow cadets will be much like fellow trainees and help each other through the difficult moments. Also, making new friends from different places makes it seem all the more a good decision to get away.
 
Enlisted, u bring up a great point. Its all about attitude. If u come to the academy thinking its a college and u r suppose to be able to come home for Christmas, thanksgiving, spring break, and summer vacation, then u will have problems. If you realize its the military and going home is when its convenient and icing on the cake, but not the cake, u will be fine.
 
Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I'm a 2012 grad and was an IC my first two years and a NARP for the second two.

A couple IC advantages I haven't seen yet: your sport counts for some PE requirements which means its easier to get a higher PEA (physical education average), and you get to spend that time doing what you love instead of a sport you may have no interest in. You also only take the PFT/AFT once a year, using that score twice-over. This was nice because I never had to run the AFT inside (as many who take it in the spring do).

For me the opportunities to leave USAFA and travel with the team during my freshman year and the friendships I developed with my teammates were probably the biggest advantages and the lack of study time the biggest disadvantage. My sophomore year I had 21 credit hours on top of 3.5 hrs of practice/conditioning and another 45 minutes of heating and icing before/after practice.

I actually got injured at the end of my sophomore year and that was the primary reason behind not continuing to play, but honestly I don't think I could have maintained the grades I needed to get into a good grad school program if I had not left the team (for reference I majored in physics and math and am now doing a 6yr PhD program at AFIT)
 
I ask this, while hiding behind a locked door, waiting for Hurricane's rath :eek:... but is the Drum & Bugle Corps considered an IC (in very loose terms) due to the practice schedule and traveling to away games with the football team?
 
I believe Drum & Bugle Corps is more like a competitive team. I think they practice most weekends but they do not have table privileges or some other privileges like IC teams. DS is on the cycling team which is a competitive club. He does it instead of Intramurals. The team does a lot of activities together including traveling on some weekends but they are not a IC team even though they race at the Division 2 collegiate level.
 
Drum and Bugle Corps like a lot of other competitive clubs, is LOS (limited on season) meaning that members do not need to go to intramurals during intramural season and that schedules can be worked so 7th periods are free for practice
 
can IC's join any sports or competitive clubs. ex womens gymnastics member joining club lacrosse? or is there just no time to do it?
 
Time is definitely a constraint. But also; you have to realize how much time and money the academy puts into athletics. They don't want to jeopardize that. I.e. If you're an IC basketball player, the coach would probably look down if you wanted to play club rugby in the off season and potentially get hurt. So, the answer isn't; No, you cant. But it's definitely something you're going to need to clear with your coach. Same with playing football and wanting to go skiing. It can be done, but it's most times not preferred by the coach/team.
 
USAFA10s said:
Drum and Bugle Corps like a lot of other competitive clubs, is LOS (limited on season) meaning that members do not need to go to intramurals during intramural season and that schedules can be worked so 7th periods are free for practice
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I realize that this thread is about IC's, but I just wanted to input that LOS does not really do anything to one's schedule for 7th period. It only guarantees you don't have to go to scheduled activities (intramurals, training sessions) from about 1630 until ACQ (1950). Or at least that's been my experience having been on LOS for three semesters.
 
Interesting, I guess they decided that the scheduling effort was too much. It used to be that you could request to have 7th periods free if you knew you were on LOS before schedules came out. I suppose it could have had more to do with my knowing the registrar, but I thought it was because of LOS. I defer to Mikil, as my knowledge may already be outdated.
 
Or it could just be that my OIC never knew or informed us of this possibility. I only know that even with LOS, we couldn't schedule practice until after 1630 due to some having 7th period.

Sorry for hijaking your thread!
 
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