Which SMC Has the Best Facilities?

[conrack]

This is actually from the VMI Museum but is accurate in terms of what a Cadet room looks like. Each cadet gets a wall locker, a desk and a rack which gets put down in the evening and has to be put back up each morning. There is a sink in each room. There is no AC, fridge or microwave. Rooms are 3-5 cadets with a few (very few, may 2?) of the larger rooms housing 7 cadets.

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Each room opens to an open courtyard. Rats on the 4th stoop, Firsts on the first stoop.

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These are the showers in 3rd barracks.

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Looks pretty modern compared to what I saw when I was on campus for The Citadel-VMI football game in 1979, I think they were still sleeping on straw filled mattresses at the time.

 

[conrack]

Probably partly tradition and probably partly so the Cadets can "stay hard."

I guess I am soft, because it's the lack of AC that would be a killer for me. Virginia is not quite as hot as South Carolina, but it's hard to imagine Citadel Cadets not having AC in the August heat. That said, I know all the old-school grads on this forum survived without it. I do not know what year Citadel barracks got AC, though I imagine one of the alums here does.

I think the thick walls of the barracks helped insulate against the heat. I fondly recall making jury rig air conditioners by putting small ice chests in front of the window fans.; originally the barracks had steam heat with radiators in each room. Central heat and AC was included when the new barracks were built between mid 90s and late 2000s.

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

I think the thick walls of the barracks helped insulate against the heat. I fondly recall making jury rig air conditioners by putting small ice chests in front of the window fans.; originally the barracks had steam heat with radiators in each room. Central heat and AC was included when the new barracks were built between mid 90s and late 2000s.

5th Battallion where DS lives (Stevens Barracks) STILL has steam heat and radiators in the room. For AC, there is a hole cut in the wall above the door, and each room has a wall-mounted unit. You are correct that all the other barracks have been retro-fitted with central heating and cooling systems.

Stevens Barracks is in a state of ongoing renovations. An addition section is scheduled to take place over this summer, though I am not certain whether DS's room for the next school year is among those to be done.

 

[conrack]

5th Battallion where DS lives (Stevens Barracks) STILL has steam heat and radiators in the room. For AC, there is a hole cut in the wall above the door, and each room has a wall-mounted unit. You are correct that all the other barracks have been retro-fitted with central heating and cooling systems.

Stevens Barracks is in a state of ongoing renovations. An addition section is scheduled to take place over this summer, though I am not certain whether DS's room for the next school year is among those to be done.

actually not retrofitted, included in the construction of the new barracks

 

[Stalker97]

Hell, that's luxury. When I went to military school in the early 90's there were no stalls in the head or in the showers. Communal shower with 3 nozzles on each side, and the head had the same number of toilets facing each other. More privacy = more surfaces to clean. It's not the Hilton, you won't be spending much time in there anyway. For added thrills, we were on steam heat/hot water and if somebody flushed while you were in the shower and didn't yell "flush" the disruption in cold water flow would scald you.

At A&M in the 90's we had 5 shower heads on a wall in a big open room. No joke-the plumbing was circa WW2 so when before someone flushed the toilet in the adjacent room you had to yell "Crapper!" ("or Sir! Crapper, Sir!") to give those showering a chance to reply "shoot it!" (an Aggie expression related to killing dead elephants, aka dead zips-its a long story) and get out of the way

 

[lmac]

facilities at the citadel are adequate. nothing special. now some of the new buildings are absolutely beautiful. boat house is very nice.
if there was anything to really criticize, it's the food. some of the stories i've heard are pretty bad. raw chicken at times, c'mon. my wife does catering and has cooked for 500 a few times. i don't believe anyone has ever gotten sick. lol
room privileges do get better every year as far as what you can get away with or hide before inspections. my dd and her roommate practically ran a kitchen out of their room. hahaha