These Times.

I heard a Brother rat this summer make an interesting observation. I think it is in step with the  feelings of most of the Corps. He said that it seems like that VMI is in a state of transition. That as each class comes through, they see a little bit more of what once was, go away. My Dykes were the last class to Break Out on the Hill. While my Breakout was strenuous, and we did do the first Howitzer drag up ‘Supes Hill, there needed to be something more too it. I hazard to say that 2007 was the last class in Barracks.

That has been said of several classes of course. It is an odd feeling, sitting at the dawn of a new era, and to be staring back at the old. I don’t like it.

This would be easier to handle if there future didn’t look so grim. The changes are being felt this year. The pressure from the Administration has been severe, and the Corps is beginning to push back.

This year started on a highnote. I had great expectation out of ‘09. It wouldn’t take much to out do ‘08 though. I know that almost all of my BR’s in Cadre positions take the job almost like a Religion. They are locked in to their mission with a tenacity and a level of integrity that makes me proud to be associated with them within the class system. But then things got weird.

The Administration locked down on privileges. I can’t take Haydowns for playing drums for formations, unless I play three times a week. then I can have one on Saturday. Permits are not going through like they used too. Privileges don’t exist anymore. They just don’t. I know thirds who got boned while on guard for taking the haydown, that they are allowed to take. The response from COL Trumps was “In My day we didn’t have any haydowns ever.” Well I know they had them, I’ve read countless primary resources that mention them, from “his day”, and before.

Other things came down too. One of the more irking was a new limit to the size of computer monitors. I personally don’t care, but there are several individuals who have had to get rid of very expensive monitors because of these new stipulations. 19 inches is barely larger than the laptop I am typing on right now. It would suck to be an engineer who needs to have blueprints, and schematics layed out on their computer screen.

A much larger issue has been the new latelights restrictions. Weeknight taps is a halfhour later this year. This doesn’t mean anything. The reason cadets don’t care about this is because we can not have late lights past 2 am in barracks. We also can not go out to late study in an Academic Building past that. Infact, we were told don’t bother asking, there are no circumstances that will get them approved. So know we have less time to study. No reasonable answer has been given for this change.

Next came other changes. Morning Room inspections have become stricter. I know a guy who received 150 demerits in one inspection. The newer inspectors do not understand “MI Order”, and the Commandant’s staff has been backing them up on these horrible inspections.

The Ratline is truly a joke now. You cannot rasie your hands above your shoulders to correct a ratt’s strain. no more “claw”. This is ridiculous. The Rats dont strain because they don’t know what it is. I learned to strain by having 3 to 5 cadre in my face, screaming in my ears, putting their hands in my face, making me pinch their hand’s with my shoulder blades. Now the RDc can be suspended for that.

If an upperclassman looks at a rat too menacingly, they can be OGA’ed. This is not an exaggeration, this is happening! The Rats are running barracks more than the 1st class!

There has been no noticeable leadership from the 1st class. They have been going along with this, atleast their leadership has. I know many of the privates are fanatically upset.

Yesterday night a petition was posted on the bulletin board in 1st stoop sallyport. I  am going to recreate it here:

                                                    LEADERSHIP more or less

1)We are tired of the hypocrisies of CADET LEADERSHIP… we give ideas, Commandant’s Staff shoots them down.

2) How much of the ratline is what the 1st class wanted???

3) Load us with more mil duties but restrict our study time (1:30 rule).

4) VMI is not a service academy. It’s better! Cadre are being watched too closely, OGA is no longer seen as a viable organization (but a babysitter). Our school is going in whatever direction the Superintendent and Commandant want. That direction will not be something so prized by us.. the FUTURE ALUMNI OF THE GREATEST MILITARY SCHOOL IN THE NATION!

 

You have taken away the power for us to complain formally (without punishment, or a total lack of interest) and made us shelter behind smart remarks and humor pages. WHEN WILL IT END!!!??? Maybe for once you will embody the leaders that you so often qoute and LISTEN!!!

 

 

This was followed by several signatures that grew to over three full pages by the end of the night.

Everyother conversation in barracks centers around a step off. There is no trustworthy leadership. They have lost the faith of the Cadets. They claim we are not to be trusted. i don’t trust them or their interest. VMI must fight for itself. It will not be long before the Corps is heard from if changes are not made.

I am sure that every alumni may be thinking that i should stop complaining, but it is not just me. Also times are different. I have had countless inspections and trainings that were unnecessary that have taken away form my academics. i enjoyed life as a thirdclassman more than a second.

We come to VMI because we wanted something tougher. If you do not want this, then leave my school. I have no use for you. But if you want to learn to persevere, and how to lead others, come here. Yes it seems initially barbaric, but I understand i have to treat people different than how i treat a RAT. A rat has volunteered to be punished, initiated, and ultimately molded. i will flame rats while here, and i will punish and council them for discrepencies. i will not treat my shoulder in that way as an officer, although i will extract the standard from them, I understand the difference in methods, we all do.

Leave us alone, you do not understand us. You don’t have too.

Hey-dey-hey

Completed a 17+ mile forcemarch for preservation on saturday. Had a great time with the guys on the VMI CWRT leadership, and meeting some new pards with the CMF. Good group of guys, with some insightful knowledge of the Battle of Antietam. We beasted the original pace, doing the first 10 miles in two and a hlaf hours. The second half of the march we slowed it up slightly, trying to keep the blisters and heat casualties down. The fording of the Potomac goes down as one of my reenacting highlights.

Busy busy busy has been my life, trying to shake off the soreness of this weekend. Ultimate practice will be nice, get my legs feeling looser hopefully. Ive got guard tonight and tomorrow,  should give me good study time I hope.

There have been lots of changes to our schedules this year that I will be touching on in a later posts. Right now im trying to enjoy a relatively light morning. Ive got am andatory speaker coming up here soon, then lunch and class, then practice, probably try and hit the weights before hand.

i’ll leave you with this gem

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

~Ross~

Emerson Thoughts

So the first author to be studied in My American Renassiance course is Raph Waldo Emerson. My Prof is an excellent teacher, and htis particular time period is his speciality, especially Emerson. I guess you may call him an “Emersonophile”. Anyways, i just finished our first piece by him, “The American Scholar”, and I enjoyed most of it. I generally disagree with much of his spiritual views, but I find it easy to avoid this conflict. Typically I subsititute and real Unitarianism terms, with the words “society in general” and it tends to fit more or less.

Its a rather scathing critique of the Intellectuals. He prefaces the piece as an arguement that it is time for Americans to become intellectuals on par with the rest of the world. He mentions the influences of the intellectual, nature, the past, and positive action. In all of these three I found a pretty solid arguement for his side thesis on the development of a scholar. I especially like the bit about the past and needing to have physical exercise and exertion. He chides us to be aware of the past, and to not use its thinking as a cruthc, to go out and develop ourselves. This requires nature, whihc he already had gone into some detail about, and then segues into the third section.

The need for honest labor and joyous exertion. He abhores the idea of the “bookish” scholar. He encourages the listeners of his lecture ot go out into the world and experience life. I think this is his valuable lesson for everyone. Get to your life. In doing this you will experience God and nature, as he suggest everyone to do as well.

What I think pertains to VMI is his effort to keep us form worshipping the thought of the past too much. I’ve heard the comment that VMI is in a place of transition, and Ive heard both positive and negative in pertains to that. What really made me think was this qoute.

“If there is any period one would desire to be born in,-is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit to be compared; when the old and the energies of the old, can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new area? This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we know but what to do with it.”

Basically we piss and moan about the changes around here, and some of them are very inconvenient for us, and we do all kind of wish that the Ratline was like it used to be sometimes, so see if we would have stood the test of that trial.

On the other hand the next three years are proving to be as challenging, if not more so sometimes. I heard of a thid who got over a hundred demerits in one inspection just the other day. I hope they mostly were scratched. Maybe we should emrace this change. VMI may yet retain its prestige. There are some changes that do not appear to be for the better, but I know that my class is actively seeking out ways to improve, and they even occasionaly are listend too. So as we sit in this time of change, maybe there will be good things, “If we know but what to do with it.”

Anyways… Ultimate is comiong along, starting to understand the plays and strategy a little bit, andf my forearm throw is slowly getting there. Plus its been a good, fun workout. The play is coming too. I’m a little aggrivated by our practice schedule, lots of wasted time.

Well I am hoping to relax tonight. maybe.

Two Stripes this time…

So I survived the summer. Here is a quick rundown.

Being a Hobo was a remarkably enjoyable experience. Certianly living with Pat was never dull.

Tanyay and I are stronger than we were last year.

Jayme is engaged.

I am psuedo drum captain at random :/

The roundtable is on like Donkey Kong

Heading to Toronto later this month.

Tried on my ring!!!!

I’m a member of the theater now too…

I’ll give more as they come to me.

I am really hoping to do more writing this year. I feel like I am growing into myself more, and I am starting to develop beliefs that are more thought out and based on observation, rather than just, well, whatever…

Anywhoooo….

I will Charlie-Mike on the original mission of this Blog. Perhaps a little less of my personal woes and romantic life, more commentary on general life, the military, and VMI.

I will also be starting a 40 day devotional written by an Alumnus who is now a Special Forces Major. there may be some commentary on that.

So there’s this girl…

I spent the most amazing weekend with her… like wow! I had some realizations. I can’t really describe how i feel about her without it sounding liek some osrt of cliched movie. I guess they wouldn’t be cliched if they weren’t true. This girl completely has me wrapped around her finger! I met her family, who were all incredibly amazing and so nice and wonderful.

She is so blindingly gorgeous. its not even funny. All systems have been running in overdrive since ive been back. i was spoiled by all the time together. hopefully i’l see her sunday… AGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! i dunno man, this is incredible, nothing ive ever felt before. i thought i had in the past, but this is totally different…

i hsould stop before istart rambling incoherently…

I love her.

Everything else has been going. i realise i haven’t written in awhile. Being a hobo is great fun thus far. pat is a great hoboing partner, and i still get to see robicus all the time.

graceandpeace,

ross

Post Exam Furlough

Oh! Hey there! you just caught me reading the dictionary. i like to exercise my mind too!

So exams felt pretty good. I’m currently in Jayme’s living room watching the first Princess diaries. I’ve only seen the second one.

So life has been going lately. I spent sometime with Chap this last week, getting a chance to work over some things. That was pretty good.

this will be a pretty scattered post I think.

I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world! even though I almost screwed it up. She kind o f saved me from myself, and helped me work over somethings out of my past. I guess there were somethings I thought i had already been over and odne wiht. I guess I wasn’t, but its getting there.

These past few months have been amazing. I’ve come to realized how blessed my life is right now. I have some wonderful people in my life right now. God has revealed so much to me. I guess I’m still trying to work through it all now.

One of those things has been placing someone incredible in my life. I can’t really express it. This girl has put a spell on me. Its, odd because my previous relationships were quicker to develop. Its been odd for me to move slow. But it is os amazing. I have gotten to know this girl ust al ittle bit i htink, but everytime I see her or call her, or leave a post on her facebook, I feel closer and closer to her, and i feel like I’m going to leanr even more. All I want ot do is spend itme with her and learn about her. This is so exciting!

What else is ogin on with me? Im trying to think, its been hard. when I htought I had ruined things, i couldn’t sleep. But she was still there for me this morning. Ahhhhh! my head is just spinning!

So anyways.. what else what else…. This New Market stuff is stressing me a bit. Iveo nly been reenacting a few years. I’ve always avoided the responsibility and politics. Now I’ve somehow taken charge of the VMI contigent, including alumnoi, and some non-vmi people Iven ever met. and I’m dealign with some “interesting”  event organizers.

I guess thats been about it. I’ve had random thoughts throughout the last couple of weeks that I’ve forgotten. perhaps I need to just have a random thoughts post sometime =/

graceandpeace

~Ross~

MYSpace Girl

speaking of our fav song

 

 

 

Oh yeah! I have a blog!

So Life is kind of taking off on me, and kept me form my faithful duties to this blog.

Things are going great with Tanya still. I’m actually listening to our unofficial song right now. She should be on her way back to school right now from her between term break thingy. Its been really exciting getting to know her and I think we’re getting out of that phase were we are still just getting to know each other and are really starting to learn about eachother now. its been really exciting.

I ordered my ring last week. I went with the shamrock becasue the synthetic peridot doesn’t look like a peridot what so ever. Its till a synthetic whihc has helped to keep price down on it. I’m also getting stuff together for this summer.

I was at a campaigner-style reenactment last weekend. Had a great time with a couple of the roundtable guys, and some alumni. It was really neat, we had pretty authetnic rations, and a skirmish in the deep wodds, no modern intrusions. I’m currently covered in poison oak and had ten ticks on me so far. The plus side is i don’t get pulled into room wrestling matches so much

Speaking of the room… Got a new roommate. He’s actually in band so i already know him, but it was a bit of suprise. Had some problems with his old roommate and needed a new place. Its been working out. He’s a big footabll player, and its just weird having a fourth. Getting used to it slowly.

I’m on the newspaper staff now. My first articles were last week. I’m on the News staff, and then I am also doing a semi-regular series reviewing old movies for the Entertainment section. I did both for last week, Im not sure if I’ll be doing the movies frequently, Its an easy way to get the hours worked off, but its another article to write, and its not required like the other one. So It may be on hold as I’m crankign out papers this time of semester.

Rob just gave me a interesting revelation. Going to Military School, specifically VMI, is al ot like being gay. You wear funny clothes, Hang out with (READ: shower with) other men, and go to parades. Wow. that is quite the revelation Rob. Sometimes I think he is a prophet.

And…. McCrary says: LOOK AT MY HAT!!!!!!

Whelp, its parade time.

Graceandpeace

~ROSS~

 

The Water Slide

You’re standing at the top of the slide tower at your local water park. You’ve braved the heat, conquered the stairs, and waited in excruciatingly long lines. Now it is finally your turn! There is a precipice before you with two options. On your left is the Curly-Q. It is an open topped slide with several zig-zags and loops. You can here the excited screams of the other kids going down that slide. It looks like a lot more fun then the one on your right. The right one is dubbed The Hole. It is covered up so that the inside is dark, you can’t see down its path. From the outside you can see bumps going down it. The few patrons braving it are screaming their lungs out. While they also sound excited, there is a much more fearful tone until they hit the bottom.

You begin to head towards the Curly-Q but a life guard stops you. He says you can’t take this one; you have to take The Hole if you want to go down into the pool.  Well that seems odd… maybe he’s just messing with you. You take a step up to the Curly-Q, but the Lifeguard blocks you again! He tells you again, “take The Hole. Thats the line we put you in at the bottom.”

Well now your upset! You begin storming and huffing around the platform, throwing your fit. As you yell and scream, the Lifeguard allows even more people down the Curly-Q as you sit and pout. Depsite all the commotion the Lifeguard remains patient. Again, he calmly gives you your options. Take The Hole, or just don’t go at all. Its your choice. But, he promises with a knowing smile, you will thank him when you reach that glorious, refreshing water. He’ll even go down with you, just to make sure its alright.

You sit to ponder, peaking your head out over the edge to look down at the pool. There is an odd phenomenon going on beneath you. All those coming off the Curly-Q splash around for, at most, five or ten minutes. Then they dash off towards the Wave Pool. What is odd though, is the behavior of those coming out of The Hole. They are screaming in some sort of mix of terror, and delight. They hit the water forcefully, and are slow to come up… but when they do, they refuse to leave the pool. the Lifeguards have to corral each and everyone. Each one takes several minutes. As soon as their feet hit the deck they rush back into the line to go back down The Hole again.

You sit htere pondering this… Those on the Curly-Q certianly enjoyed the ride… but you’ve been up here a while. You’ve struggled to get to this point. Why is it that those going down the dark and bumpy Hole are so dtermined to spend as long as possible in the pool? Why are they in such a hurry to relive the experience?

The Lifeguard rest a hand on your shoulder as you stare at the slides. “Well, will you come and enjoy my pool with me now?”

Mark Schultz

I thought I’d post some vids up. Mark Schultz has some of the most consistently inspiring songs of any song writer i Know. The last two are fan videos. the first is the official vid. Caution: the last one is a real tear jerker. especially today!

 now, its off for osme wall ball…

graceandpeace

~Ross~