Camden Military Academy - Excalibur Yearbook (Camden, SC)

Page 11 text:

William Witherspoon, right, checks out the brickwork : renovated Colonial Hall with Donald Branham and his contractor crew. New boys in a first step in the metamorphosis toward becoming cadets. 7 New cadets wait apprehensively for their first haircuts at CMA.

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NEW YEAR, NEW BOYS and a spectacularly renovated campus. Summer 1984 concluded with a bang: the Olympics instilled in us a renewed sense of pride in our superb athletes, in our nation, and in ourselves. Clara Peller demanded ad nauseum, “Where’s the beef?” and the year moved on with space spectacu- lars, four more years for President Reagan, a baboon heart implanted in Baby Fae and an articifical one in William J. Schroeder. Terrorism was rampant from London to New Delhi; industrial disaster from Mexico, DF, to Bhopal unnerved us all; and the famine in East Africa, with its political, ecological, and economic complexities, bewildered both the altruist and the isolationist. These events and many more were part of a progres- sion of steps, both up and down, in our world just yesterday. Late summer marked time for the CMA family to get in step once again to meet the challenge of another academic year, to welcome new experiences for the continuing education which is life. Giant steps for an improved school plant kicked off the season. Brick veneer and new roofing transformed the dining hall, barracks, and Colonial Hall from a fatigued look of World War II “temporaries” to substantial, aesthetically pleasing fa- cilities. One greying faculty member wondered aloud if he’d gone to heaven when on a sultry September day he flipped his classroom thermostat and cool air poured comfortingly over his sweaty students, energizing them for greater learning effort. Perspiring for physical and athletic gain here will never be the same again. A fully renovated gym, from playing floor to roof, and a new wing to house a completely modern weight room, and incidentally provide a remote location for a band practice room, adds one more first-class structure to a campus for which all of us may be increasingly proud. On August 27, however, the cadre arrived to construction work still in progress. The group was primed and fired up to receive, to indoctrinate, and to train new boys due the following day LTC Wilmot T. Riley, new Commandant, was in place and a few days MSG Marvin L. McCullough joined him as JROTC Instructor. Col. Phillip Minges Jr. assumed the position of Di- rector of Development and Alumni Affairs and three new facul- ty officers too were ready to launch the school year. j The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu stated in the Sixth Century B.C., “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” And so we began our academic year, one step at a time. The gym addition underway, its completion weeks away. George Pagan, center, instructs members of the cadre (clockwise from left}, Chad Ayers, Marc Rogers, George Pagan, Cliff Carter, Ubaldo Acosta, Don Knorpp, Gary Micko, Guillermo Contreras, and Sean Matthews.

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PRECISION, COLOR AND CONTROL ‘ Awesome” is the buzz word today to describe what was only “cool” yesterday, but past, present, or future, the cadet corps marching onto the parade field stirs the most blase watcher. Staff members, however, function more than ornamentally. Cadets bear the United States, Camden Military Academy, and Carlisle Military School colors proudly. The James F. Risher Guard performs precision drill for special events, on campus and across the Carolinas, and in drill team competition. Marching individually, in step to form squads, platoons, companies, and, finally, that entity of a rifle battalion, the same components are structure for student government and community. Step by step cadets develop the self- discipline to take orders and eventually to assume responsibility and earn authority to give them. Color Guard members — Rick Faulkner, Preston Walter, Todd Parker, Jon Faulkner, and John Hill — advance the colors for parade formation. The James F. Risher Guard marches during the Camdei Christmas Parade, Cadet LTC George Pagan ii command. “Officers Center” during Visitors Day parade. 8