Texas A&M- Spend the Night With the Corps

I don't know that much about the organization of the A&M corps- how do they make assignments to the various companies within the regiment? Do Cadets actually request what company they get assigned to? Are the different companies all specialized?
That sounds totally different from VMI for example where the assignment is made mostly by height (with the exception of Band company) and the difference between the various companies is pretty small, especially after Rat year
 
That sounds totally different from VMI for example where the assignment is made mostly by height

I'll just say. Sounds like the most ridiculous thing ever to me to be put with your group of buddies based on how tall you are. But to each his own I guess.

I don't know that much about the organization of the A&M corps- how do they make assignments to the various companies within the regiment? Do Cadets actually request what company they get assigned to? Are the different companies all specialized?

At A&M the Corps of Cadets is organized into Major units: 3 Brigades (Army), 3 Wings (Air Force), 2 Regiments (Navy/ Marine), and the Fightin Texas Aggie Band (Any Branch). Each major unit is made up of 4 Companies/ Squadrons that are where a cadet will have 90% of their daily interaction. Our outfits live together, eat together, obviously march and do formations together, and will study for each other. The branch loyalty is not set in stone. This year's Cadet Colonel is in E-2 a Marine outfit, but an Army contract because his desire to serve in Medical was not available for the Marines Corps.

Each outfit will be in charge of recruiting potential cadets after the Corps determines where would be a good fit or if a cadet expresses a desire to be in one of several. In example my outfit will be given the contact info for any prospects that are interested in majors in the College of Ag and Life Sciences. I found out that I myself was "stolen" from E2 by C1 because I had been on E2's prospect list but joined C1 at New Student Conference.

Hopefully it all makes sense, I normally read the posts about the Citadel/ VMI and I am lost as to what on earth is being discussed.
 
Company Selection

Each SMC is somewhat unique in how they assign their 4th year cadets. I like the way that TAMU selects because it recruits the company to find their own members to some extent. My son has received several calls already from companies wanting him to join.

VMI and the Citadel randomly select the companies for their 4th class cadets. VMI just hypothetically lines the cadets up by height and numbers them based on the number of companies that they have. It just makes the average height of all of the companies about the same. It is still very random.

The discussion here was about visiting TAMU for one of their Spend the Night functions and to whom you might be staying with while on campus. You are not committed to join this company when you come to college.

Best of luck on your visit.
 
At A&M the Corps of Cadets is organized into Major units: 3 Brigades (Army), 3 Wings (Air Force), 2 Regiments (Navy/ Marine), and the Fightin Texas Aggie Band (Any Branch). Each major unit is made up of 4 Companies/ Squadrons that are where a cadet will have 90% of their daily interaction. Our outfits live together, eat together, obviously march and do formations together, and will study for each other. The branch loyalty is not set in stone. This year's Cadet Colonel is in E-2 a Marine outfit, but an Army contract because his desire to serve in Medical was not available for the Marines Corps.

Each outfit will be in charge of recruiting potential cadets after the Corps determines where would be a good fit or if a cadet expresses a desire to be in one of several. In example my outfit will be given the contact info for any prospects that are interested in majors in the College of Ag and Life Sciences. I found out that I myself was "stolen" from E2 by C1 because I had been on E2's prospect list but joined C1 at New Student Conference.

That's interesting- thanks
 
Each SMC is somewhat unique in how they assign their 4th year cadets. I like the way that TAMU selects because it recruits the company to find their own members to some extent. My son has received several calls already from companies wanting him to join.

VMI and the Citadel randomly select the companies for their 4th class cadets. VMI just hypothetically lines the cadets up by height and numbers them based on the number of companies that they have. It just makes the average height of all of the companies about the same. It is still very random.

The discussion here was about visiting TAMU for one of their Spend the Night functions and to whom you might be staying with while on campus. You are not committed to join this company when you come to college.

Best of luck on your visit.

Did your son attend one of the Spend the Night functions?
 
Spend the Day

We did a Spend the Day back in July. I asked alot of questions. We were supposed to do the Spend the Night this week, but DS has a track meet. If he goes to TAMU in the fall, he will probably join S-1 or H-1. We are still waiting on acceptance through review. Then we will look at all of our choices.
 
We did a Spend the Day back in July. I asked alot of questions. We were supposed to do the Spend the Night this week, but DS has a track meet. If he goes to TAMU in the fall, he will probably join S-1 or H-1. We are still waiting on acceptance through review. Then we will look at all of our choices.

I know how that goes, I scheduled mine for the only week I don't have a track meet. We'll best of luck to your son, Gig 'Em.
 
As I understand it from our Fish daughter you can pick whichever outfit you want to be in. That said, there are restrictions as to which outfits you can be in. Currently there are all male outfits, though there is some discussion about gender integration in all of the units. There are some that are technical majors only and all of the outfits belong to a certain ROTC branch; though it said most outfits will let you join regardless of your ROTC. Most outfits also have some sort of speciality i.e. athletics, academics, commissioning, etc. If you go to http://corps.tamu.edu/ you can go to the future cadets tab and then look up corps units and you'll find a link to each of the units. As the TAMU site puts it: "The Corps of Cadets is a large and diverse program with 35 units, each with unique traits and offerings. Students join a unit based on their interests, major and ROTC choice. Cadets live on campus with their unit in the Corps dorms and build lifelong friendships with members of their class, as well as the upperclassmen and underclassmen in their unit."

I took our Fish back to TAMU yesterday and I know she is anticipating a compressed six weeks as Fish year comes to an end, culminating in the "March to the Brazos". Wikipedia reports "March to the Brazos is the largest and most successful student-led fundraiser for the March of Dimes in the United States, and raised over $1.5 million between 1977 and 2007 (the total is now over $2m). The annual event is organized and comprised completely of members of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. In the spring semester, the cadets conduct a 18 miles (30 km) round-trip road march starting from their dorms in the Quadrangle, through Main Campus and West Campus to Texas A&M's Animal Science Teaching, Research & Extension Complex (ASTREC) near the east bank of the Brazos River. After the first leg of the march, cadets participate in various competitions (tug-of-war, relay races, etc.), eat lunch, and un-officially transfer ranks for the following school year. The day concludes with the march back under the leadership of the next Class, while the Class of the current year will ride buses back to campus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_to_the_Brazos

Best of luck ! Lawman32RPD
 
:eek:
I took our Fish back to TAMU yesterday and I know she is anticipating a compressed six weeks as Fish year comes to an end, culminating in the "March to the Brazos". Wikipedia reports "March to the Brazos is the largest and most successful student-led fundraiser for the March of Dimes in the United States, and raised over $1.5 million between 1977 and 2007 (the total is now over $2m). The annual event is organized and comprised completely of members of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. In the spring semester, the cadets conduct a 18 miles (30 km) round-trip road march starting from their dorms in the Quadrangle, through Main Campus and West Campus to Texas A&M's Animal Science Teaching, Research & Extension Complex (ASTREC) near the east bank of the Brazos River. After the first leg of the march, cadets participate in various competitions (tug-of-war, relay races, etc.), eat lunch, and un-officially transfer ranks for the following school year. The day concludes with the march back under the leadership of the next Class, while the Class of the current year will ride buses back to campus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_to_the_Brazos

Best of luck ! Lawman32RPD

Very Cool- thanks and good luck to your daughter and all of the "Fish".:thumb:

BTW- Having been a resident of the RGV in South Texas (McAllen) for 6 years- I'm having a Really hard time imagining no A&M -UT football game this season. What the heck is up with that?? I understand the conference change but this seems like sawing off the horns on both teams!:eek:
 
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:eek:

BTW- Having been a resident of the RGV in South Texas (McAllen) for 6 years- I'm having a Really hard time imagining no A&M -UT football game this season. What the heck is up with that?? I understand the conference change but this seems like sawing off the horns on both teams!:eek:

You opened a can of worms there! Once A&M decided to leave the Big 12 for the SEC, the University of Texas Athletic Director declared they would NOT play us again in any sport out of spite. Talk about picking up your ball and going home (literally).
 
TAMU Corps units

We did a Spend the Day back in July. I asked alot of questions. We were supposed to do the Spend the Night this week, but DS has a track meet. If he goes to TAMU in the fall, he will probably join S-1 or H-1. We are still waiting on acceptance through review. Then we will look at all of our choices.

I would encourage your son to have a set list of questions to ask the units he is interested in. My son is a current "fish" in S-1 . After Spend the night with the corps he was still unsure of which unit he was going to join and finally made his mind up after the ice cream social hosted by the Corps of Cadets during NSC. For my son it came down to the unit he felt fit not only his interest but personality. My son was deciding between H-1 & S-1, both are good units and are very active. H-1 does a lot of running however I would say that S-1 is equally active physically. If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
 
CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT TO BRING TO SPEND THE NIGHT WITH THE CORP? WE CAN'T FIND A LIST ANYWHERE. . . ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
 
My son did it last year. He just took a small duffle bag with clothes, shower stuff, towel etc... I think he brought a sleeping bag, pillow.

Son is currently a fish in the Corps and having a good experience.
 
Just remember your objective...if it is to truly commission as an officer, your goals(s) should be to remain healthy, good GPA, active in other opportunities that will enhance your ranking, etc. While the unit you choose will certainly lend itself to some memorable experiences, the intensity you seek will be plentiful in the actual branch of service. When others advise to "keep an open mind", really allow that to resonate in your mind. I am prior enlisted, ROTC, re-enlisted in my state guard recently (yes, at my "older" age), and have other first-hand knowledge of how the process works from the initial desire all the way to commissioning/serving/succeeding. There's an old joke about two bulls, one being a father and the other..the son. They are on a hill staring down at a pasture full of cows. The son says "hey dad, let's go run down there and have fun with a cow" (I am cleaning it up out of respect for our audience). The father looks at his son and replies, "no son, let's walk down the and have fun with them all". Enjoy these next four years and keep your eye on the prize...
 
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