In Their Words

NUSA Camporee

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to volunteer with the NU Scouting Assoc. (NUSA) for the annual camporee for boy scouts around the area. The boy scouts arrived on Friday night and left on Saturday afternoon. We mostly had troops from the local Vermont area, but also had a troop that traveled all the way from Natick, MA. While I couldn't help on Friday due to softball practice, on Saturday morning we arrived at the campsite that the boys had set up at the foot of Mt. Paine, and started to get ready for the day. And on Sunday, we helped them repack their cars for their travels home. For Saturday, I was a part of the logistics crew, so I went to the O Course and started setting up supplies and caution tape for later events in the day. Throughout the day, this meant I spent a lot of... Read more →

Abare Dining Out

Yesterday was the Abare family picnic. The days leading up to the picnic my fellow rooks and I were very excited. Since the start of rookdom, I’ve heard several upperclassmen say things such as, “You’re going to love Abare” or “Don’t worry, Abare is coming up soon!” The upperclassmen were definitely not joking about how fun it would be! The march up to Abare felt long, but I think the driving factors for that feeling were that I was hot from wearing the PT long pants and that the recruit behind me kept stepping on the back of my “go-fasters.” Marching up the final stretch, parents and alumni were seen cheering for us. I wanted to look around and smile at them to show them the impact that their presence had on us, but instead I had to keep my military bearing and stare straight ahead. As we made our... Read more →

Cavalry FTX Week

While it is now the middle of rook week, I want to talk about my experience from last week, where myself and a few other incoming rooks were able to participate in Field Training Exercises (FTX). Last week, there was a group of us that participated in the Band, Cavalry or the Drill FTX. This gave us the opportunity to meet our training staff for our specific specialty unit divisions of the provisional battalion, and to get a taste of the training to come later on this year. Monday, we went over the anatomy of a horse, the parts to pieces of tack (such as the parts of a saddle and bridle), and also started to learn marching techniques/commands. I found learning marching commands very useful, especially looking back on last week now. Without learning what I had, and going over what I already partially knew, the past few days... Read more →