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