Monday, December 08, 2003

Army lost to Navy this weekend in the big football game. I don't think I've ever been more mad in my life as I was when the Corps marched into the stadium before the game. Formation for the game was at 12am in the parking lot outside the stadium and so my friends and I got there around 11:30. Most of the other cadets who had taken pass were there at that time as well. The busses with cadets on them that drove from West Point were supposed to get there around that time as well, but due to the snow they didn't make it until about 2:30 or so. We were supposed to march on at 2pm, but at 1:30 rumors started to spread around that it was pushed back until 3pm. At 1pm our first sgt went around and told people not to move because we'd soon form up and march over the the hockey area so that we wouldn't have to stand on the ice any longer, but that was a bunch of false hope. We kept waiting, but nothing happened and we stood out there the whole time. What made me so angry was that the corps had to wait outside in the parking lot, which was covered with a sheet of snow/ice, in 20 degree weather, and we were not supposed to go anywhere, while higher ranking people were not out there with us. I didn't see any bathrooms, and definetly no water around, except for the few patches of melted ice on the ground. I heard a plebe tell someone that he was extremely thirsty, but there wasn't anything we could do for him. I saw at most two officers out there very briefly for the whole 3+ hours that we stood out there on that ice. Our shoes have no insulation, and although most people wore mutliple pairs of socks, the cold seeped straight through the shoes and everyone's feet froze. Many people who did not wear coreframes had water seep into their shoes, which made it even worse for them. After 3 hours when we started moving, nobody could feel their feet. When we were marching in my feet started to thaw a bit and the pain set in. It was so bad that I started to limp. When we walked into the tunnel under the stadium I saw all of the officers huddled in there. That was when I was more angry then I've ever been. I dressed as warmly as I could, but was still very cold and my feet were froze. I know that there were many cadets out there who did not dress warmly and had no protection for their head or ears besides the grey service cap, which does nothing to protect the ears. A few took their rain cover for the service cap and wore it kinda like a shower cap in order to shield their ears. Whereas Navy got to leave and come back later, those officers made the corps stand out there and literaly freeze in the parking lot, while they shielded themselves from the cold and ice. That is one of the best examples of poor leadership that I've seen in my cadet career.

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