Recognition Day
[if it seems all I post is military college tales, I apologize]

The Citadel was a grueling place (I assume it still is, I just know what it was like when I was there...before women). As a Freshman, you are under the "Fourth Class System" for the ENTIRE year. Until, 3 days before the graduation of the Seniors. It’s crap. The whole year is pretty much people shitting on you and making you hurt. Think fraternity hazing 24/7.

That is, until 3 days before graduation. They have a "P.T. Run" and that run is about 15 miles, with breaks here and there to abuse you with calisthenics...push-ups, flutter-kicks, grass drills (running in place and then diving onto the ground) etc. At the end of the run the following is the list of injuries in my Company of perhaps 19 cadets:
1 broken ankle
3 sprained ankles
1 broken wrist
2 chipped teeth (the cadet/freshman in question passed out, mid-stride, on the run)
Abrasions too numerous to count
And just about every freshman in Bravo Company had a shredded PT T-shirt

We were covered in dirt, scrapes, bruises and soaked in sweat, mud and swamp water. Sucking air, some of us unable to stand for the formation.

And then, one of the upperclassmen, my Squad Sergeant (a Junior), walked over to me and he held out his hand for me to shake and he said "My name is Jim." It’s the first time an upperclassman cadet tells you his first name. You are "Recognized" as worth knowing.

I cried like a baby because it was all over. Every single drop of blood, every single bruise, scrape, twisted ankle(in my case - every broken rib)...suddenly it was all worth it. I had survived the crucible and had emerged a "Citadel Man".

That was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

Apologies for length...

Semper Fi,

Sean
edit: sometimes, when you look back, you realize how overly serious we took ourselves at that school. Still, it made it all worth it. :)
( Citadel Because the world needs less morons, Fri 11 Mar 2005, 15:22, Reply)