Too long since my last post.....

So, very much has happened here since my last post. I had thanksgiving leave, Christmas dinner, Army/Navy week, the Army/Navy game, and have now entered the wonderful week of TEEs (Term End Exams). I almost forgot, the president also came here and told us about Afghanistan. So first up was Thanksgiving. A very difficult lead up to Thanksgiving break, as seen in the previous post, was well worth its suffering. I got back to my house around 11 or 11:30 on Friday the 25th. I was instantly greeted by friends and seldom found myself without them over the break. I was very happy to be home again. The first thing I did was shower and change into civvies. Once again, I could call myself "human." Despite being tired from the rigors of West Point, I refused to be lured to sleep by my bed. Each night I was up till 4 AM making the most of everything. I spent some time with my family, especially on Thanksgiving day. It was particularly nice to see my older sister Katie, who was back from Elon. On top of that just seeing my dogs made me instantly happy. Nothing too special really occurred over T-Break but I had an awesome time catching up with my friends and family. Upon leaving to go back to West Point I was a little disgruntled but just kept thinking how in three weeks I would be back home for Winter break.

The week after getting back from T-Break was when the President came to visit us. I was looking forward to this despite the insane procedures put into effect that day. After 1600, every room had to have their windows closed, shades down, and lights off in order to prevent a possible sniper attack on the president. We all moved to Ike hall in formations and were seated anywhere from 2 to 4 hours early. Sitting in the warm Ike hall with nothing to do in our uncomfortable Dress Gray uniforms was not fun. I managed to bring my video camera so when the President did finally arrive, I taped his entire speech. I found his speech to be pretty good overall. That saying something because lets just say I'm not his biggest fan. Now, if you watched the speech on TV or watched the news anytime that week over the speech you will see clips of cadets sleeping and hear mostly liberal bullshit exclaiming how the military obviously doesn't support the President. The truth is, us cadets have very rigorous schedules and get pretty tired. The fact that we had to sit in the auditorium for awhile only complicated some of our lack of energy. People sleep, especially tired people. From my observations and the observations of others, not to many cadets overall were even sleeping. They just happen to stand out very well when the camera pans the audience. Despite the negative attention, the Corps will endure.

Up next is Christmas dinner. This took place a little under two weeks ago on Thursday. It was a little stressful preparing for it as I had to get decorations for the table, I was worried the cigars wouldn't arrive in time, and had to actually decorate the table despite being busy with Sandhurst practices. The Cigars came on time which was great. I went for classy and simple at our Christmas table, using simple wrap, a little garland , and a centerpiece that said J-O-Y. Upon the actual dinner everyone was very impressed, especially both our firsties. I was very glad to have impressed Adam Larson, as this was his last (although 5th) Christmas Dinner at the Academy. Our dinner consisted of rolls, mashed potatoes, filet mignon, lobster tails, sparkling grape juice, and egg nog. It truly was quite the feast. During dinner some of the plebes were being put up to dance with upperclassmen. Eventually I was pressured into doing so and asked the Cow (aka junior) at my table if she would dance. Everyone was cheering and we "ballroom" danced a few circles and then sat back down. Embarrassing at first but really not that bad. Upon completion of eating we partook in the Corps tradition to sing the 12 Day of Christmas. This truly turned the Mess Hall into a mad house. Food was flying everywhere and table were being lifted to see who could get the highest. I believe we lifted our table 4 times with either just Lt. Larson or Nelson and then once with both of them on it. This event truly was very unique and is something I will always remember. However, the best was yet to come. After the completion of the 12 Days of Christmas the entire Corps went out of the Mess Hall and on to the Apron for Christmas Cigars. I purchased CAO Gold's for my table. I knew the brand but never tried this particluar blend. Everyone from my table was again impressed. It was a mild cigar with hints of spice but an overall smooth flavor and aftertaste. Never have I seen so much smoke in an outdoor environment. The air looked as heavy with smoke as an indoor hookah bar would. It was so enjoyable to mingle on the apron catching up with buddies from summer training, conversing with other classmates, and just enjoying a very festive atmosphere that one wouldn't expect to find at West Point. I managed to enjoy my cigar to its fullest and was one of the last 50 people outside. I look forward to my future Christmas Dinners here.

Now to talk about Army/Navy week and the Army/Navy game. A/N week is a spirit week in which the Corps gets "motivated" in order to take on Navy. We had the privilege of wearing ACU's all week which is quite the treat. Minus a presentation in English and a Math assignment I had no school work last week. Each night there was something going on. Much to the dismay of the Corps, there was march-on practice on Monday and Tuesday which was cold and boring and time consuming. On Wednesday we had to attend the Goat/Engineer football game. This is a football game between cadets ranked high and low in the class. During the game I managed to engage myself in s snowball fight which ended up in me eventually tackling a Cow (junior) into the snow. Done all in good fun, he did warn me that my revenge is on its way......still waiting. Thursday night was another spirit dinner where they showcased a bunch of the A/N spirit videos. The dinner wasn't the best we headed out to the Big Boat Burning. Cpl. Hunter and I decided to enjoy the bonfire with a cigar. Again I enjoyed another good cigar. On Friday we had another damn compressed schedule which meant wake up early. I had two classes, my final classes of the semester, and finished the day around lunch time. All I did the rest of the day was lay around and rest as I would be getting up at 2 AM on Saturday morning for the A/N game. I had three outdoor formations from 2:55 AM till 3:45 AM in preparation of getting on the buses. We got on the buses around 4 and didnt actually leave till around 5. We arrived in Philly by 9 and then proceeded to simply stand outside until we marched on somewhere around 11:30. March on went smoothly and it was pretty cool being on TV and all. Not much longer after march on I met with my dad, my sister Kelly, Tom, and Old Man. Tom and Old Man are two of my dads classmates from West Point that have known me since I was a baby. I sat with them the entire game on the upper deck. The weather wasn't too bad, which made the loss a little more manageable. I was pleasantly surprised by Army's show of force in the game. I feel that they performed very well and that I have a bright future to look forward too with Army Football. Sadly, I had to move straight to the buses right after the game and said goodbye to my sister, dad, and his friends. The bus ride back wasn't much fun, very uncomfortable and I just wanted to relax. We got back around 10 and I went straight to barracks and took a shower. I then proceeded to pass out in my bed sometime around 11:30.

On Sunday I sat around in bed till sometime between 1 or 2 PM and watched Shaun of the Dead before actually studying for my history exam. Yesterday was the wonderful beginning of TEE week......the one good thing is it means I am almost home for Winter Leave. I studied for my history exam until late last night and then throughout the morning as this exam didn't start until 10 AM. I had two essays to write and wrote 8 pages on each. I fell that I did I pretty good job and should get a grade somewhere in the "B" range. Tomorrow I have math, IT on Wednesday, chemistry on Thursday, and composition on Friday.

I really must get to studying for my math exam now. I hope this post is adequate, given the long absence of a post. I will probably post again during Winter Leave or at the very latest when I get back from leave.

Why isn't thanksgiving here yet?

So this is going to be a bunch of random stuff. Just wondering thoughts and events this week. I have 2 weeks till I get to go home for thanksgiving. That being said, it has a detrimental affect on your attitude and work ethic here at West Point. For a lot of us here, that is all we can think about, the chance to go home. I was lucky that I could "re-experience" the civilian world last weekend in New York City. However, once I got back it was same old same old with school work, drill, and everything else we cherish here at West Point. Lately I have felt very out of touch with my friends and family back home. I don't mean out of touch as in lack of communication but more like I am a world away. My life here is so different from what it was back home and very different from my friends lives. I spend more time in conversations with friends answering questions about here and the army than I do actually talking. My ability to communicate with people outside of here is important although sometimes distracting. It gives me a link to my old ways and society (that is the civilian world). I stay within in the same mile or 2 mile circle every week here unless I am lucky enough to have a trip section (as I did on Wednesday, more to follow). Its weird being so confined. Not only am I in the same area at all times but I have two roommates in a smallish room. Very little chance for privacy or complete silence. Also it pay to mention that everything (except the Hudson Valley, off-post) is dull, plain, and often gray. Same colors and same surroundings can really make you feel like you are stuck, kind of like a Twilight Zone (at least in an extreme situation.....of course I haven't experienced an whole winter here). West Point quite effectively mentally confuses you. It makes you act strange and think strange, at least given civilian reactions to us. We have so many mannerisms and jokes and traditions here that really throw you off when you get back to the civilian world. Honestly, half of me says I am a different person and the other half says I am not. Call me a nut, a looney or just plain F*%#ed up..........but I don't think it's a serious mental problem. Well before I overload my brain with these deep thoughts and confusing mental notes lets move to a different subject.

So we did have something pretty big happen here on Tuesday. CHUCK NORRIS came to West Point! I don't think the mess hall has ever been as loud as it was at lunch when they announced Chuck Norris. He then walked through the hall (I am not sure why) and lets just say it looked like a bunch of little girls at a Jonas Brothers concert (they're still popular w/ the young people right?). I'm pretty sure my finger grazed his hand as he was walking by ( I wasn't fortunate enough to get a full high five). After lunch he gave a briefing to the corps in Rob Aud. I took my video camera and taped the whole thing. It was pretty funny and entertaining. There was one thing that was a little unnecessary though; his wife stood up and told him to talk about how great Mike Huckabee is. You could tell that Chuck wanted to roundhouse kick her to the face (or at least skip the subject). He did a pretty good job of just talking bout his relationship with Huckabee instead of campaigning and promoting him (which I am pretty sure his wife wanted him to). Afterwards he was having a book signing at the bookstore. Sadly, the line was huge and I had a last hour class. I gave up my chance to simply shake his hand and introduce myself. Quite a shame, but I did pass my book off to a buddy in line so I still have his autograph. On Wednesday we didn't have school. ESPN was here to celebrate Veteran's Day and televise some of the 10k ruck march some of the corps was taking part in. My company, because it is awesome, managed to get a day long trip section (aka field trip) approved. In the morning we made our way to the Purple Heart Memorial and Museum. It was actually pretty cool and is located where Washington quelled the mutiny of the Continental Army after the Revolutionary War. We were there for about an hour and then headed off to Applebee's. We changed into civvies on the way and had a free meal. While there we saw plenty of West Point because they had ESPN on. After lunch we headed to the Palisades Mall. This mall was gigantic, 4 floors of everything. Sadly, I had no money to spend (gotta love NYC). I chilled and walked around the mall with some friends for four to five hours till we had to leave. Although it might not have sounded like fun, getting off post and getting into civvies was well worth it. We got back around 6:30 PM and had plenty of time for.........you guessed it, Homework. This weekend is going to be great as I am doing the bulk of my research paper for History, which is due Tuesday. It seems like all the teachers wanted to kill us before thanksgiving. Just turned in a math project, have an english paper, the history paper, a chem test, an IT lab, and who knows what else (I don't like to look ahead to much, that way I don't stress myself out or get myself down for the next week before it even starts).

Well, I guess this will do, my mind can only handle so much free writing at a time.....actually I just think I'm not creative or able to write. Oh well........

NYC

So, not much happened last week, except not that I remember. It is truly pathetic how little I can recall from previous weeks or weekends. Its not just me either, a lot of my buddies say the same thing. Anyways, I went to NYC over the weekend with two of my friends (Icenogle and Oescher). We were there from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon. We took the train from Garrison, NY and sat with tow Yuks (sophomores) from our company. They already had hostel to stay at so we followed them to the "Candy Hotel" to see if we could also get a room.The "Candy" was full so they sent us to another one of their properties called the "Chocolate Hotel." We got a miniscule 2 bunk bed room room $30 a night per person. It wasn't bad though, all we needed was a bed. After this we took the subway back to Times Square and met up with the two Yuks (Faber and Wesche) for dinner. We went to a place called "The Playwright: Celtic Pub." It was on 8th Avenue and a block away from Times Square. All I got there was a burger so I can't give much of a restaurant review. The burger was really good and I liked the atmosphere. After dinner we split up from the Yuks and did our own thing. For a little while we chilled at the Blarney Stone and mingled with people there. One person I met, by the name of Jim Brown, is a student at Albany. His roommate's brother goes to West Point. Oescher happened to know this particular person as well. It's always interesting to find random connections and coincidences. After the Blarney Stone we set off for NYU. After walking three-quarters of the way there, Icenogle and Oescher decided we should just head back. We went back to Times Square and chilled a while longer before heading back to our hotel by 96th street. We didn't get to bed until around 3 AM. On Saturday we slept in till around 11 AM and left the hotel around noon. Our first plan of action was to go to Times Square, maybe shop a little, and definitely get some food. We checked out a few stores and then ate at a subway. After wandering Times Square, we decided to walk to Central Park and check it out. Although myself and Icenogle had been to the city a few times before, it was Oescher's first time so we did a lot of "exploring." Once Oescher realized Central Park was simply a big park, we left and headed for China Town. China Town was boring but we went to Little Italy right next to it because we had been told to check out Florio's. When we got to Florio's and the guy asked if we were West Point, he told us to go outside to the door on the left, up the stairs, enter the first apartment on your right and ask for Larry. We did so and ended up in the awesome cigar smokers lounge with huge leather furniture and dark wood, a poker table, military stuff on the walls, and glass cases with knives. When I asked for Larry, a loud "HOOAH" came from around the corner and Larry introduced himself to us. He told us to sit down and he got each of us a cigar (one of the ones they make). This was an amazing experience. We sat up there and talked with Larry and some of the other people there for a while. After maybe two hours we went downstairs and had some pizza, which was very good. When then went back upstairs for another hour or two. Before we left, we made sure we signed into the log book he has for all the military people. It was pretty interesting to see all of the upperclassmen from my company that had been there in the last year or so. After Florio's we headed back to Times Square. We decided to go see a movie and got to the theatre just in time for the opening of Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day. I must say, it was an awesome movie. After that we wandered through the city, stopped by the Apple Store, and headed back to the hotel. Again we didn't sleep till about 3:30 AM. We woke up around noon and headed back downtown. We decided to go eat at Carnegie Deli. We all got a burger (I will get one of their monstrous sandwiches a different time) and shared a piece of cheesecake. It was really good food. After eating, we went straight to Grand Central and got on our train back to Garrison. And that was that. I had an awesome weekend and it felt so good not only to get off post, but to be able to wear civvies and chill.

Long time no post......

So haven't updated this in a while, much to my dismay. I have been fairly busy lately. Last week was a lovely "Thayer" week. A "Thayer" week simply means one has a lot of big assignments and/or tests. I had a chemistry, math, and history test. I felt that I did quite poorly on both math and chemistry but I actually recieved A's on both. I am eagerly anticipating my history grade as I am never sure what to expect from the history department's grading. Although people were dressed up Thursday night for halloween, on halloweeen itself I did little to celebrate it.....unlike a typical college, they were no halloween costume parties, bummer.
One halloween festivity I took part in though was the "Haunted Room" competition. Every company decorates a room (or in our case half of our floor) and they get graded in order to find the regimental winners. The next day the grade for brigade champion and some of the higher ups (aka the supe, dean, comm) also check out the haunted rooms. Our hanted set up was pretty awesome however I am too lazy to describe it. My role in the whole scheme, outside of setup, was to be a casualty. I will try to get a picture on here later but it looked like my guts and brains were spilling out. My company won the regiment but I'm not sure how we did for brigade. On Saturday (Halloween) I slept in (first time in like three weeks) and played xbox and watched movies the whole day. The culminating event of the day occured at about 9:15 when we invited a bunch of our buddies to watch "Cannibal Holocaust" with us. I urge you to wikipedia it but in short it can be described as the goriest movie ever made. This movie is an Italian made movie from 1980 and is illegal in multiple countries. I don't want to ruin your day so I will describe any scenes. To put how this movie affected me, It felt like my soul was raped. I will also say it was insanely realistic, even by today's standards. Apparently it is on Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies list. Just check it out and watch with caution. After the movie, it was almost midnight but I managed to stay up until 5 AM. Don't ask why, I don't have an answer. I then slept till noon on Sunday when my buddy woke me up to ask if I wanted to go to the PX (post exchange). I got ready, had some BK for lunch up there and picked up some boodle and whatnot. Back at barracks I did nothing......just further procrastinating my english paper till sometime between 8 or 9. The paper was easy though and I quickly wrote and edited it.
Another big event took place last night. It was Branch Night for all of the firsties. This night literally makes or breaks your entire time spent here. Branch night is when all of the Firsties recieve their army branches. Whether you win or lose, you get drunk as hell. There were plenty of drunk firsties celebrating, horseplaying, and meandering through the hallways last night. Luckily I did not run into any firsties that did not recieve their branch of choice. They would have been pissed, depressed, and most likely belligerently drunk. Like I said, it can "make or break" your time spent here. Accompanying branch night was the tradition of blood pinning. Sadly I didn't have the chance to take part. Basically you go and punch the firsties in the chest where their branch pin is in order to make them bleed. They actually walk around and offer themselves to be hit.......maybe its the alcohol.
Well, I will try my best to post more this week. We have a game against Air Force this weekend so I will close with "BEAT AIR FORCE!!!"

Stuff and Paintball

Im going to start by mentioning how the Thayer Dinner last week was. So, Ross Perot was the awardee and the main speaker of the night. I found Perot's speech very entertaining and very interesting. He gave many stories of his friends who have served in the military. The man seems to be a very humble, determined, and kind individual. Throughout his speech he was making funny jokes about some of the things was talking about. He also began and ended his speech by holding up the Forbes Magazine with the "West Point Top College" article. That night and the next day I heard many people saying that the speech was boring, dragged on, was too long, or was trivial. I was very suprised by this as I figured most would have respected the meanings behind the stories he told. I also don't think his speech was anywhere near too long.

Friday was the same as any Friday I have here. I got out of classes, took a nap, ordered pizza, played xbox with some of my buddies down in the dayroom, and then went to bed. I went to bed a little earlier though as I had to be at CGR (Central Guard Room) by 0430 hrs. The reason why: District 9 Paintball Game in Connecticut. The drive was about 3 to 3.5 hours long. I was the TC (traffic controller) for Cpl. Hunter and so we were awake while everyone was sleeping. The trip consisted of meandering conversations and constanly scanning for rap on the radio. After getting to the field and getting set up, we started play at about 9 AM. Except for the 1 hour break for lunch, we played from 9 till 4:30. The game went very well and we had control of nearly the whole field the entire time. For the final battle (last 30 minutes) our team was forced to assault a cliff. It was literally impossible. With 5 minutes left I wrecked my right knee pretty good on a rock. Its really sore and I probably won't be able to wrestle this week. We ended up winning the game 1900-900. On the way home we ordered 100 double cheeseburgers from McDonalds. That was enough for each person to have 3, very healthy. After everyone finished eating in the car they passed out again. Hunter and I again were engaged in random conversation and "singing" to rap and some bad music that we found on the radio.

You might wonder why I was playing paintball as a cadet at West Point. The reason being is it is one club out of many (somewhere around 100?) here at West Point. It is amazing all of the activities and opportunities cadets are offered here. There is a club for nearly every interest, there are many different exchange trips, there are educational trips, and a bunch of other random things. West Point does a good job of giving everyone opportunities to learn, have fun, and best of all, get off post.

As a brief note to end this post, Cpl. Hunter and I are making a rap group called Notorious B.A.G. (Barracks Arrangement Guide). We are going to make satirical raps and videos about West Point. West Point is really big on spirit stuff and its just something we can entertain ourselves with. It can be hard at times to find entertainment outside of watching movies in your room.

Inspections and Parades

So today the Corps woke up for an early formation and the prospect of a high temperature of 40 with almost 100% chance of snow. We greeted this weather with our basic jackets and a lack of gloves, due to the fact that it wasn't deemed cold enough by higher up to warrant gloves in the daily uniform. This is a sad fact because it is also a little breezy and our the rain made it no better. Anyways, back to the early formation........
Today was haircut and uniform inspection day. This beloved day of the week involves us standing in formation longer than necessary in order to have our shoes, belt buckle, and hair cut to be inspected. What is the purpose of this weekly ritual? Of course, it is to maintain the standards and decorum of the Corps. In order to prepare for this I had to have one of my roommates cut my hair in the bathroom last night. Had I not done this, disciplinary action would have likely ensued. It may sound like I am very put off by inspection but really its just a small annoyance. Another weekly ritual is WAMI (Wednesday AM Inspection). I would argue that this is more hated by cadets than is haircut inspection. WAMI (in short) involves our room being organized in a military manner, free of dust, and having all uniform items arranged in accordance with the BAG. The BAG (Barracks Arrangement Guide) is whole different monster. This document provides the exact way in which our underwear should be folded and in what order our clothes should be hung up and how many of each item are allowed in each specific drawer. On a Tuesday night when you have a lot of work to do, WAMI is a looming evil and quite the annoyance. Despite this, I do recognize the value of WAMI. Without this once a week cleaning of our rooms, I know some rooms (possibly including my own) would turn into literal fallout zones or junkyards. Also, it is pretty amazing how much dust collects in these rooms, so its nice to clear it all out once a week.
Onto the other topic which I want to discuss today: Drill and Parade. So drill is practice for parade. We have parades for home football games, important people, and special events. I would reckon 8 out of every 10 cadets at West Point would say that drill is worst thing that ever happened to them upon coming here. We drill right after classes and walk circles on the plain and stand in formation. It is no fun at all and a seemingly complete waste of time. I don't know about you but I can't wait to use my parade skills when I am commanding a platoon in Afghanistan. IEDS and Guerilla fighters beware, theres a parade formation coming through. A popular form of worship for Cadets is that of the god Odin. We pray to him for rain and anything that will possibly get us out of drill and parade. The guys at the smoke pit only use white lighters on such days as this is said to help things go your way. Today we lucked out. The steady drizzle of rain throughout the day has made the plain unusable. This particular day we were to have a parade for Ross Perot as he will be accepting the Thayer Award at our special dinner this evening. Sadly Perot doesn't get a parade, which is a shame because he was going to get to ride in a Willy's Jeep in front of the Corp before our pass and review. Oh well, no parade for the Corps and free time in the afternoon for all (except the Corps Squad Athletes). We still have to dress up for a fancy dinner which means we will actually get some decent chow (I will make a post about the Mess Hall sooner or later).
I guess that is all for now. I am going to savor the rest of my free time before dinner by listening to the beatles and whatnot. Hope the weather where you guys are at is better than here.

Table Talk

So I would like to talk about something that I particularly enjoy here at West Point. This doesn't apply to everyone although I'm sure other tables do this as well. At lunch, the two firsties (seniors) who sit at my table introduce topics for discussion. Sometimes these topics are previously introduced and discussed via email and usually involve some article. These discussions which have so far covered religion (not as a debate between different theologies), peoples rights, and why we are proud to be americans. The discussions which involve peoples rights are tied to the fact that myself and the other plebe at my table must pass of an article or amendment of the U.S. Constitution each day at lunch. Most plebes would despise this and view it as just another useless bit of knowledge to be memorized. I disagree. Lt. Larson and Nelson believe that they are obligated to help shape myself and my fellow plebes into productive officers of the U.S. Army. By learning and applying the Constitution to different topics I learn not only what this country stands for but also what I stand for as a soldier in the U.S. Army. After our particular section or amendment has been passed off we are usually asked to analyze it and apply it to particular situations which Lt. Larson and Nelson provide. I always look forward to lunch for our discussions and also for the emails introducing new articles of discussion. The most prominent discussion which we had dealt with an article written by an officer who felt that their was an overbearing Christian attitude in the Army. Included in this article was the inclusion of the "So help me GOD" statement on our army oath. I hold a fairly strong opinion on topics concerning religion or at least its separation from the state. In response to this topic I managed to cite and incorporate the U.S. Constitution, Jefferson's Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and the Supreme Court Case Lemon v. Kurtzman. Not only did I voluntarily reply to the topic, but I analyzed the facts and my thoughts on my own. These discussions are interesting and therefore encourage me to think on my own and develop my own opinion. This is outside of class and therefore allows for more open thinking and further development of my intellectual being. I feel that I am very lucky to be at this particular table for lunch. Instead of small talk and bullshit, I recieve critical thinking skills and interesting discussion. I will provide insights into future discussions I encounter. I will also try to post a few times a week on my blog but Cadet life is busy so no guarantees.

First Post of my First Blog

Alright, how should I start my blog? What should I write? Should this be deep and analytical or more like a daily journal? I suppose it would be best to describe why I have decided to start a blog and what I hope to accomplish with it. I wanted to start this blog in order to allow me to not only collect my own thoughts but to continue the journaling which I started over summer training. I feel that something a lot of people don't really understand what West Point, or any academy for that matter, is really about. I want to provide people with insights into cadet life while also managing my own personal thoughts and experiences. After I finish editing my journals from the summer, I will post them up so that you can see what summer training was like. This summer was the first time I ever journaled and I would say it is pretty crude considering the lack of time and energy I was able to devote to it. However, I digress. As I write this blog, I hope it is informative, thought provoking, and lacks excessive bitching and whining (as West Point does tend to make people do that). I will make another post tonight, but just wanted to get things started. Enjoy the Blog

-Carl Kenney