United States Coast Guard Academy - Tide Rips Yearbook (New London, CT)

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V- ■ m: f f Sir, the guard is mustered Sterling lads To the colors ' Tm not going to make a speech but . . . ' w..

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m m After the short cruise we felt assured that we had mastered the fundamentals. Only the fine points remained between us and perfection . . . rude awakening! The days of Swab Summer, we found, had only been a once over lightly. You ' ve been here long enough to know . . . ! became the all too familiar phraseology of our chastisement. The real difference from Swab Sum- mer was in the academic routine. No longer a review of fundamentals, the task at hand now be- came the K of serious business oi marine engineering. The first problem was to conquer the slide rule. At first a challenge in itself, in due time it became merely a gadget to aid in meeting the challenges presented by the math and physics departments. Yes, we were on our way . . . somewhere. It took five to drag Pope in New knowledge did not remain confined to aca- demic and professional subjects. The amenities were duly attended to from the start. The Tea Dance introduced us to the cream of the local lassies, while the Pig Push emphasized the merits of the sophisticated collegians across the way. Tastes WILL vary, and a liberal education must present various points of view. If we grumbled at the aspect of being forced to attend these receptions, we were thankful that they existed when the first formal dance approached and a date became mandatory. The dance seemed awk- ward at first, what with bow ties, receiving line, and dancing three inches apart. Then, as always, we found that a fellow can adjust to anything if he has a little ingenuity. On other weekends we picked up the knack of providing ourselves with entertainment within the limits of our munificent compensation. The movie on the base, the movies in town, and the soda fountain in the Rec Hall became much appre- ciated diversions. A long, quiet snooze, hereto- fore unheard of as a mode of recreation, lent variety to off-duty hours. Boredom could not pos- sibly gain a foothold amid the fast-moving tempo of life within the walls. In moments of depression there was the girl back home to write to, and a Christmas leave to come.

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. IIC That first Christmas leave surpassed all expec- tations of joy, but returning also presented new depths of bleakness. The spectre of our first set of final exams loomed before us. Few of us had ever taken an exam lasting four hours before; the completely spent feeling upon finishing was strange. It really seemed rough to have four exams in nine days, then. The new semester was pretty much like the last. Wing orderlies required no lesser degree of per- fection, and a square corner still meant ninety degrees. There were signs of change though. Hot! 26