News FLASH - Brandon Conquers "the Bar"

In late-breaking news, AP reported yesterday evening that Brandon passed the Virginia Bar Exam, and as of 10/16/2009 is licensed for the practice of Law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Family reaction was, well, ECSTATIC! We are all incredibly happy for Brandon and his lovely family, what a significant accomplishment and lifetime milestone. He's officially in the club.

March Back - August 10, 2009

More march back photos of our West Point Waldo, Company D!


Posters note:

I cannot even begin to express how proud I am of the New Cadet Class of 2013, but in particular of my son. Although I am a graduate of the Naval Academy, and have always held a healthy respect for West Point in addition to our heralded rivalry, my exposure up close to West Point in the last few weeks has multiplied 100-fold my respect for the institution, it's graduates, and the current Corps of Cadets. From my earliest memories of seeing the Navy ships in Norfolk and meeting the sailors that my father served with, I have always been proud to be an American, proud of this fabulous country, proud of the heritage of military service in my extended family, and proud to have had the opportunity to serve in some small way to keep our land safe and free. This last seven weeks has been exquisitely beautiful while at times also gut-wrenchingly trying and even painful, as my dear sweet wife and I have grown closer as we witnessed from afar remarkable personal growth, the cementing of personal resolve, and strong evidence of a new heightened level of maturity in our New Cadet. In eight short weeks he has grown from a 17 year old youth into an 18 year old soldier and future leader for our country. I know in my heart that in many ways he is the same, that his spirit and personality and individuality and sense of self are intact - but I also know that he has been tried and tested and tempered and found to measure up on a host of fronts heretofore foreign to him, and as an unavoidable result in many other ways he is a much different. He is now part of something much bigger than himself, be it his squad or platoon or company or regiment or the Corps of Cadets or the United States Army, and on Saturday he will join the "Long Grey Line"! What a wonderful honor, and what an appropriate new home for him. I have sensed his inate leadership talents from the time he was a tike, and have zero doubt that he will grow into a well-respected Cadet and Officer. Let me take this moment to thank and salute him, his classmates, and the entire Long Grey Line for their selfless service and sacrifice. May God bless the United States Military Academy, and the United States of America!

Duty-Honor-County

Here's our Waldo, after the New Cadet's finished the traditional march back from Lake Fredrick, where they had been helicoptered in a couple of days prior. Can you find him??? The march was over 13 miles. Our New Cadet reported in a very short call last night that they slept out in the open the night before in the pouring rain, and Monday of the march back was the hotest day of the summer - 95 degrees!
Here is a first-hand review of the march-back, written by a recent grad who participated:

My Husband and I are grads and had the opportunity to spend part of the last night at Frederick with the new cadets and then march back with them yesterday. I know how new starved most of the parents are so I thought I'd write a little summary of what we saw and experienced.
Sunday night they had Hamburgs, chips, drinks and some type of otis spunkmeyer dessert for dinner at about 6 and then they formed up and moved over to the talent show area where their classmates demonstrated their talents.
The talent show was MC'd by 3 new cadets on a stage with huge speakers and the new cadets all sat around on the ground. Somehow our son's company was right in front so we were literally in the front row. The new cadets sang , a few played guitar and sang, there was a musical group- drums, guitar and piano. There was a humorous rap and a comedy routine that may get the new cadets who gave it a little "extra attention" from the upper class who were mentioned- but the new cadets absolutely loved it. At the end, there was a piano and harmonica doing Billy Joel's Piano Man that got the regiment of new cadets singing along and that was followed by an encore presentation (by the same duo) of Journey's Don't Stop Believing and the whole regiment was standing, swaying and singing- loudly!! They loved it.
At that point the old grads headed out on buses and the new cadets went to bed. Bed that night was in the open in the field. It was a little sketchy but I believe they had been using lean to shelters and had taken them down. So they slept dressed, on the ground, with their ruck and their poncho over them.
Back at the hotel about 1 am we heard a massive thunder storm come through - yep- they slept (or not) right in the same place all through the thunderstorm. The next day our NC told us the woke up, rearranged and then told jokes to each other for about an hour during the worst of it and then eventually most, if not all, went back to bed- wow.
We show up the next morning at 0345 and the cadets are awake and eating. A little after 4 H Company left Frederick, followed by G at about 0430. They staggered the start times to allow proper spacing and so that there would be room in the break areas for the new cadets (more on this later) By this time, they knew A company had won so they marched out in reverse order because when they got to the ski slope to rest and regroup- H company marched about 1/2 way up the slope and stopped and the other companies filled in below (G below H, F below G, etc) This meant that the companies were in the correct order for the march from the ski slope to the Supes- A was the last to arrive which but them at the bottom of the hill so they would be in the right place for organizing to march past the Supes.
As to the actual march back... The first leg was about an hour and there was at least one very steep hill. I thought it was bull hill but could not get that confirmed - and then there was a 10 minute break with fresh fruit, muffins, and other food- as well as several porta potties.
The second leg seemed the longest and it was very hilly, both up and down. It was all on roads, but few of them were paved and it seemed mostly gravel and large rocks. The NC walked on either side in the tire ruts, the Cadre walked in the middle where it was more hazardous. It was a challenging stretch and the new cadets in our group encouraged each other. I saw the hand/helmet in the back to assist someone going up a hill. Lots of ve
rbal support- I did not see or hear a negative word the whole time. I only
saw a few new cadets step aside but then they'd come running by on the next downhill to catch back up with their squad.
The next rest was at Round Pond and there were soldier fuel bars, fresh fruit, gator aide, etc. That was a long breack. About 20 minutes to a half hour. Then the final- all downhill march to the ski slope. As I mentioned, H company arrived at the ski slope about 0930, additional companies arrived every 15 to 20 minutes after. So some of the NC had a long,
relaxing wait at the ski slope. We split off from our NC at 11 I think the other reports cover the final leg of the march back.
We also have a cow at the academy and she reported to us that after lunch the NC were turned over to their academic year company commanders. The Company commanders turned them over to their team leaders and the NC had a number of items to accomplish that day. The new cadets had a 9 pm taps yesterday - which I have never heard of before but I think it was well deserved.

The Preposition Song

All of our children attended a Junior High School that taught this "Preposition Song", here performed by sons #2 and #3. Enjoy!

Harmony Version:

Opera Version:

Where's Our Waldo?

The parents love to play "Where's Waldo" to find their New Cadet. Thousands of pictures are scattered all over more than a dozen sites, and Mom has dutifully been going through them looking for "our" Waldo. See if you can find him in the attached - they range from down right easy to quite challenging. And these are the ones where we think we actually see him!

These next three are of Devon's Company "Delta" at ettiquete training. Thankfully for Brandon, we didn't see any pictures of our New Cadet and his partner giving each other IV's - yes, they really did that, and in the first two weeks!

He's In The ARMY Now!

The final march. It is the last time we saw him! Yes, I'm crying now!

How can they do this to my BABY????
He's trying so hard to keep a stern look on his face. We all know how much effort that must take!
It was so strange to see him go for so long without smiling. I had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't allowed to smile.
The oath! He's official at this moment!
The salute!!
Then we played "Where's Waldo", except it was "Where's Devon?" I saw him first! Can you see him? Find the guy in the near left corner with the glasses. Devon is the fifth one in that row.
Here come the Cadets!!
5:40 PM: While Randy and I ate some lunch and toured the base, Devon was learning how to march. The parade started at 5:40. Here is the band that led the Cadets.
9:20 AM. They took a group of Cadet into the auditorium and left us parents standing outside. For a minute or two we thought we weren't going to be able to say goodbye but then they allowed us to go into the auditorium and sit behind our Cadet. They gave us 90 seconds to say goodbye and then we couldn't see Devon the rest of the day, and it was the last time we were able to talk to him.
The Eastern Baseball shirt guy just abandoned his girlfriend to chill with Devon while waiting in line.
Of course Devon made a few contacts while waiting in line. As luck would have it, the guy standing next to him will be playing baseball. They really seemed to hit it off.
It was "hurry up and wait". The line was quite long.
Devon hooked up with the basketball coach who was kind enough to take this picture of us. I can't believe we didn't get a picture of him...Coach Jim Platt.

WARNING!! Some of the above pictures are NOT for the faint of heart!!! This is a picture of Devon walking from the parking lot to the check in point on R-day. Randy and I could not keep up with him--he was so anxious to get there and get checked in!

Sunday at "The Point"

Army and Navy -- side by side!

Doesn't Devon look happy? He's standing at the edge of the baseball stadium. The barracks are behind us. Devon fell in love with West Point. He kept saying that he couldn't believe that he would actually get to live in such a beautiful place.
This is the football stadium. We were all very impressed. What a nice facility!!
Another view of the stadium.
Look at this lake! Can you believe that Devon gets to walk along the lake every day? It is across the street from the football stadium. It is so stunning.
The West Point Parents Club hosted a picnic Sunday afternoon. Devon found a few other future Cadets to talk to for a little while. We actually arrived at the very end of the picnic. Most of the attendees were already gone.