R-Day at West Point is the first day for the incoming class of cadets. It is a pretty dramatic day for them - going from the civilian world to the military in just a few short minutes.
In preparation for R-Day, they hold an R-Day rehearsal. This allows all of the departments to practice the flow of getting people through the process and allows the upperclassman (Cadre) to practice leading new cadets. They ask for 300 volunteers to be a cadet for the day and walk through this process. I signed up right away. I may be a dork, but this is right up my ally of fun! I especially like getting to experience something that Chad got to do as a cadet...of course I got to go home at the end of the day and he didn't!
We had to report to Ike Hall that morning and stand in line. Real Cadets are given a time to report somewhere between 6 and 11 in the morning.
Camelback on - I'm ready!
When it was my turn, we moved into Ike Hall. They gave a short briefing. I was expecting them to say, "Ok this is what you are going to go through today..." but they didn't. They gave the exact brief they would give to real cadets.
One funny story...in my group were two moms from the West Point Parents Club. From what I understand one of their sons was a Firstie (Senior), so she should have known better... One of the moms was carrying a camera and was apparently determined to take pictures of all the real cadets who were practicing and post them for parents to see their kids. Walking into Ike Hall, she looked to her left and said, "Hi! Smile for the camera! Let me see your name...oh yeah, we know your mom. That name is familiar." click, click, click ...Too bad she was taking pictures of a Major and a Lieutenant Colonel. She had NO CLUE!
After the short briefing they give you 90 seconds to say goodbye to family...again a much more dramatic moment for cadets than for us.
Headed out! I was anticipating to be yelled at after walking through the doors. The Cadre were definitely not as tough on us as I anticipated. It was still neat to see the process they go through.
After tagging our bags, we headed to the bus. We were told to not talk and to keep our head and eyes straight forward. Again, they weren't that strict on us, but it was a hard thing to even try to do to not look around. There were also different kinds of people who volunteer for this. I am the type of person to take it seriously, but there were some (like the moms) that were just there for fun and a good time. The Cadre didn't really bother them too much.
The bus took us to Thayer Hall where we walked through all the administrative stations the cadets walk through. Since we were just for practice, we basically just walked up and down the halls. The civilians, Officers and other soldiers were very easy on us...not like the Cadre.
The girls and Chad walked around while I was in Thayer.
I totally messed this picture up! I had already done the bag tagging station and didn't feel like carrying the second bag around, so I was tossing it to Chad. I was on my way to my "Company."
From this point it did get a little tougher. The Cadre expected us to answer their questions, stay in line, etc... We had just been walking around to this point, so when they started asking us questions we all just stood there. I can imagine how overwhelming it is to try to learn all of the stuff they throw at you in one day.
Then we went outside...it was crazy hot. I didn't take my sunglasses b/c I thought "they would never let cadets wear sunglasses!" Mistake! If you do this - take sunglasses! I would also recommend a Camelback b/c not only did I have water, I had a place for snacks if I needed them.
Outside we were walked around to the Barbershop, lunch and then drill. Wow. Did I mention it was hot? We learned to salute, stand at attention, turn left, right and about face - which is very difficult, especially in tennis shoes. I watch Chad salute all the time, but it is not easy to do when you actually try it. You don't really realize how tough it is to simply walk differently than you have before. When we got back to "check-in" from each station, our Squad Leader checked off a list pinned to our shirt. I told Chad its crazy the correlation between R-Day and the first day of Kindergarten. The cadets aren't even responsible to know where they've been or where they're going!
Next came reporting to the Cadet in the Red Sash. The Firsties wear red sashes and the new cadets have a few seconds to learn a sentence to say to the cadet when they report. They were VERY easy on us. I did make a silly mistake though! The poster we were reading said:
"Cadet Doe reports to the Cadet in the red sash for the first time as ordered." Like an idiot, I memorized it and walked to up to the guy and said it...word for word. Your about 3 inches from the guy's face and he says "Is your name Doe?" It was all we could do for both of us not to bust out laughing. I said it again, with Monroe this time. Then he started to give me his speech and he started laughing. He said, "Oh man, I can't do that!" We both got a chuckled and my day was done.
This is me walking out...a hot mess for sure! Kris found me right at the end.
Hot and sweaty kiddos!
Done! Girls thought the camelback was the most awesome part of the day!
So that is R-Day Rehearsal! If you ever want to experience it, come on up!!
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