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Do You Remember?
Tatoo, Protter and Morrey, Fiction 100, black low quarter Keds, a low pass
and return to altitude, the purges: the frayed rifle strap purge, the yellow
parade trou purge, the class shoe purge, the underwear marking purge, the mm
issue purge, locking room purge, the squadron nickname purge; fun one, thirsty
third, frat five, Seagram's seven, evil eight, nooky nine, horny 18, playboy
19, wearing alpha to evening meals, mandatory Friday evening meals, wearing
bravo for Saturday morning training, when the Cockpit lounge had an upperclass
side, when no one worried about frat, when no one ever heard of an eyes left,
when first group had nametags on its beds, class colored blankets, class colored
bathrobes, the extended weekend, two, echo, foxtrot, squeeze Parkay, 150 Cokes,
the H. Ross Perot bet, when Giuseppe's was THE cadet hangout, when we didn't
have nametages on our A-jackets and parkas, when we had shower formations in
BCT, when there was grass in the quadrangles of Fairchild Hall, the New Dorm,
poetry on the 0-96, the A-4 flyby, Dave lawson's foot, squat thrusts, the dental hygiene brief,
1978's first beer call, John (A-T-T-l-T-U-D-E) Ralston, graded problem sets,
when they flooded the tour pad, mandatory dance lessons, when no one thought
girls would ever come to school here, tomato juice, every body wore leather
shoes, there were only two small lights in the rooms of Vanderberg Hall, getting
issued sliderules, Bentley Rayburn, Jack Catton, Steve Miller, Brigadier General
VAN DEN BERG!, when executive officers were c/1Lts, when they fired a machine
gun when we scored a touchdown, flying T-33s for Stardust, when you took a
number to get a haircut, the Cowboy, when lacrosse was an intramural sport,
going on ODPs in bravo, falling asleep in Geog 120, the Life Science VD flicks,
breaking ranks at breakfast formations, doughnut lines, when there was glass
in the windows of Fairchild Hall, when snow cancelled school, when flu cancelled
school, when squadrons wore spirit ties for sweeping intramurals, the Supt's
red suspenders, no blue jeans in Arnold Hall, Mrs. Gail McComas, Col. Merritt, Dean
Woodyard, Baffin, when the first class began at 0700, and taps was at 2230,
dirty marching songs, wampum-up-side-the-head, squeeze my hand, chins were
in, late lights, the coke break was the only break in BCT, Air Mail stamps,
10 cent stamps, 13 cent stamps, Firsties were gods, dual recognition as both
a bicentennial university & military installation, Thunderbirds flew F-4's, winning 10 football games in
4 years, video tape of Nixon's resignation, Saigon fell: April 30, 1975, stereo
hill rally, Stereos: April 16, 1975, Academy Blvd was a two lane road, when
you thought graduation would never get here. (From Polaris 1978)
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