Whew!

So I finally had some time to breathe after the beast that was Grad Week. Hello again dear readers. In case you didn't know, I finally graduated from West Point!! Wow it feels so weird being done. I don't miss the institution so much, but I really do miss my friends. My high school friends are great and all, but I've just grown up so much in the past four years that I can't really relate to them as much as I did in the past. To be honest, the thing I'm looking forward to most this summer is my road trip down the East Coast with some of my West Point friends later this summer-- that should be a blast.

So what is this new second lieutenant up to these days? Well, a whole lot of nothing really. For my first few days home, I literally did nothing but slug out as I was just way too exhausted from Grad Week to do anything. I've recently linked up with my best friend who just finished ROTC at USF and we've been going on runs together in the mornings while I do circuit workouts at home in the evening with the hopes that such workouts will put us in good shape for our respective BOLCs.

I've also met up with some old acquaintances such as one of my coworkers whom I worked with when I worked down at the pool. We actually went mini golfing today and ran into a rising cow and his parents. It was kind of neat and really shows how small the world is. I'm meeting up with her again tomorrow to go watch a movie-- anything to kill the time.

I also had dinner with my aunt and her family today and it was the first time my aunt and cousin legally bought me a beer. Still kind of weird though.

My 22nd birthday was also yesterday. It was cool for a variety of reasons:

1) I got free breakfast at Denny's
2) I'm now on the old man PT scale
3) I got to hang out with some old friends and now a Las Vegas trip next weekend is in the works.

All in all, Summer 2011should be a blast. West Point is finally over and life is seemingly finally beginning.

On Graduation Ceremony Practice

So I would've blogged yesterday May 19, 2011, but I was out with my parents all day and couldn't find the time to do so-- I'll blog now, but expect another blog later tonight too.

Yesterday we had our Graduation Ceremony Practice, which, surprisingly everyone was willing to undergo. I think my classmates and I are all getting really antsy and just want to graduate already. We practiced queuing up, taking our seats, and some people even got to practice getting their diplomas/commissioning certificate (not everyone go to do it because after the first few, you sort of got the gist of it). The most surreal part was when the Class President said "Graduating Class, DISMISSED!" and we all pretended to have thrown our hats in the air as is customary-- at that point, I realized "Oh wow, this is it!"

To close the practice, we heard General Martin Dempsey, Chief of Staff of the Army, give us a few words of encouragement about us entering into the officer corps. He showed us this cheesy video about us joining this "indestructible army," which is pretty standard Army promo material. What really got to me though was his talk on his three key tasks while serving as Chief of Staff of the Army: discipline, fitness, and trust. The first two are pretty self explanatory, but the last one got to me. He said something about how as an officer, or as a soldier in general, you have to have a lot of trust in a lot of people, whether it be your buddy next to you in a firefight, the medical folks who treat you when you're wounded, or even the support groups available in the unfortunate event something terrible happens. I really never thought about it that way, and I hope I can earn people's trust. It was kind of cool that he said he trusts us, and I hope I can live to that.

The commandant also spoke to us about how there are three types of people with jobs out there: the guys who have to do something (i.e. "I have to work a McDonald's"), the guys who are something (i.e. "I am an officer in the Army") and the guys who have the privilege of doing something (i.e. "I'm privileged to help these folks out") The comm said he fell into the middle ground as a new lieutenant, but hoped that in the future, we would all fall into the latter category, because it's not about us but about the folks we serve. I'll keep that in mind as I continue my career.

After the Graduation Ceremony Practice, I ran some errands and now I'm back. I can't believe I graduate tomorrow (tomorrow being May 21, 2011). So surreal...

"And the First Class is soo short...!"

So here we are folks: Grad Week for the Class of 2011. This last week of the semester serves as the transition phase from West Point the academic institution to Fort West Point the military training institution. As you may or may not know, West Point conducts most of its military training over the summer, and Grad Week is a time when the Summer Garrison Regiment (aka the cadets who help monitor the many different military trainings going on during the summer) settles in. Grad Week also serves as the time when the seniors (aka First Class Cadets or "firsties") start moving out of their rooms in preparation for graduation on Saturday. Most, if not all, grades have already been locked in by this time, so cadets should know if they're graduating. Somehow, I made it and will be graduating on time (finals or "TEEs" for Term End Examinations went fine for me-- nothing to write home about, though I did miscalculate what to study for on my Civil War Era America exam; who knew both essays I had to write would be on Reconstruction, a subject I glazed over while studying?)

I'm going to miss the many "And the First Class is soo short...!" quips in the Mess Hall. Every so often, the Mess Hall guy (formally known as the Brigade Adjutant) announces these little quips in addition to his normal every day announcements to remind everyone how short of a time the firsties have left until graduation. Today's was "And the First Class is so short....! (Response: How short are they!?) The First Class is so short they have fewer hours until graduation than the yuks (aka sophomores) have weeks at the academy!" It's finally all starting to set in. My parents come up Wednesday morning while my sister comes up Thursday. Only a few parades and moving out of my room separate me from graduation.

I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a little bit anxious though. West Point flew by so fast. I hope I can do well as an officer-- only time will tell.

PS
Oh also, during Grad Week, we're waking up at 4:30AM every day to practice parading. Normally I'd be upset at this, as I hate waking up early to begin with (I normally wake up at 6:30am, so I'm up 2 hours earlier than normal), but I'm just way too excited for graduation. Only 5 days out!

It's May 2011

Today is May 1, 2011. I say again, 2011. That means graduation is 20 days away. Who would've thought that this time would finally come? I can still remember back in July 2007 thinking that May 2011 was light years away-- and now it's finally here.

Tomorrow I start my last week of undergraduate education. There's not much left in this school year in terms of actual learning though. Some highlights of this week include submitting my senior thesis and this Model UN thing we're doing in my International Relations class. We're basically pretending we're the UN Security Council discussing Libya. I get to play South Africa, so you can imagine that I'll be bringing in a soccer ball and a vuvuzela to our little mock UN cession tomorrow. Overall, it should be fun.

I also defend my thesis on Friday May 6, 2011. I still don't have any idea on what to call it, so if you have any suggestions for me, feel free to post: my senior thesis topic is the American Airborne on Sicily during WWII.

Wow-- it's already May 2011. Just wow.