United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

Page 415 text:

Recognition Finally Arrives As We Say Goodbye To A Tough, But Rewarding, Fourth Class Year Remember Recognition Day? Of course you do. Finally a long year was over, or at least almost over. There were many things on our minds that day - thoughts of the year that we had just survived, the glee we would have putting on that yellow brass, and, last but not least, three weeks of summer leave before we began the best summer of our lives. The Graduation Parade was special m two ways. First it was the only parade in which all of us marched I no corps squad get-overs this time). Second, it was probably the only pa- rade that we wanted to march in! After all, everyone wanted the op- portunity to pin those yellow shields on our white-gloved hands to show off to the upperclassmen that we had made it. Of course there was that last minute LOUD attempt to haze us. but it was a joke (who really hazed who?). Then there was the de- tailed planning to come up with good ideas for stunts during the parade. Pew alarm clocks went off in tar- buckets as the upperclass, remem- bering their recognition, checked most of us out. Finally, standing on the parade field, rattling an M14 as the firsties took off to don the Army blue, each one of us knew we had made it. Whoever thought that shaking hands would mean so much. To us it meant that we had met the stan- dards and had earned the right to be upperclassmen. To the firsties, it was goodbye, and reminiscences of when they were on the other end of the handshake. For everyone. Graduation was one step closer. What a day!

Page 417 text:

r ' - — P - ' - , v- ' . . i ivl . I- %X « ' -— -; Camp Buckner Training Gives Us A Taste Of The ' ' Real ' ' Army Returning to West Point - Lake Po- polopen style after our first leave as upperclassmen-was definitely not an occasion we looked forward to. We had heard how good Camp Buckner would be but few, if any, actually believed it. However, as the summer progressed and new friends were made, most of us found that while it may not be the best summer of our lives, it was far better than the previous summer. Having both classmates and upper- class in the chain of command was a new experience but one which chal- lenged us to pull together as a class. We quickly learned that leading peers can be very hard at times. Hard times at Buckner could not be dwelled on, though, because of the busy and varied training schedule. It was fun learning about the different branches, even though most of the branch introductions were minimal at best. Our week at Fort Knox for TCAT was unbearably hot, but driving those tanks, flying in the Huey ' s, and those infamous visits to the O ' Club at night made it all worthwhile. Recondo Week was pretty tough, and filled with good INF training. We were kept busy and the week seemed to fly by. Undoubtedly, rap- pelling was everybody ' s favorite part. Coming in a distant second in the voting was that delicious and filling survival meal - Kentucky Fried Chicken it wasn ' t! Other highlights of the summer were building bridges. Day and Night Land Nav (hopefully done only once), the infamous and hospi- table gas chamber, and our exposure to gas, gas more gas in the engi- neer covering force exercise. ' ' ' 4c 41J