Tag: VTCC

Click on the thumbnail above to view the full-sized image!

I seriously miss the days when my biggest worry in life was whether the exam was going to be multiple-choice or essay. Life is rather complicated right now, and the memory of studying for finals or mid-terms seems so simple in comparison.

Click on the thumbnail above to view the full-sized cartoon!

If there was one thing I hated wearing as a cadet, it was cross belts and overcoat. Especially if it was overtop the wool blouse (did we wear the overcoat overtop the wool blouse? Or am I just mis-remembering how tortured I was by the VTCC uniform?). It was like being in Storm Trooper armor, only not nearly as cool. In other words, I couldn’t lift my arms above my shoulders because I was so restricted by the uniform.

I still have the brass breastplate for the cross belts though, and probably a brass rat buckle too. I spent many an hour polishing those things, and I can assure you, wherever they are hidden in my closet now, they look like crap! That’s what happens when you don’t polish your brass over the course of twenty plus years ;D

Don’t forget to visit the Zazzle shop! I’m selling weird stuff!

Click on the thumbnail above to see the full-sized cartoon.

One thing I am very thankful for – I no longer have to wear that stupid tie. I hated wearing the tie with the winter uniform. I tied it once, when I first had to wear it, and then for the next four years would just loosen and tighten it to get it on and off. I think I even turned it into the uniform shop still tied after I graduated. I really, seriously hated that thing.

Not that the ties that usually come with women’s military are any better. But at least those dumb little neck tabs never choked anyone to death.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving today! I am still in DC, but will be back with the PerCaDraMo cartoons I’ve been doing sometime on Sunday. See you then.

Click on the image above to see the full-size version.

Do cadets at Virginia Tech still do Turn-About Day? I remember it fairly well. The upper classmen always did their damnedest to make the new cadets miserable all day long, because hey, turn-about is fair play, right? Only I can honestly never recall any new cadet who went out of their way to make an upper classman miserable. Yeah, I can recall some new cadets who did some really dumb stuff (I’m looking at you, freshman who insisted on drinking so much that you ended up puking your feet out your mouth and into the toilet on the very first night you got pass). And I can remember some new cadets who did some stuff accidentally or out of ignorance that didn’t make a lot of people happy (I fell into that category more than once). But I cannot recall a freshman cadet who went out of their way to upset or make miserable an upper classman. That would have been beyond stupid.

So turn-about really wasn’t fair play, and it was never going to be fair play, so whatever.

But I would like to know if the VTCC still does Turn-About Day, and if any rats out there think it’s fun.

Click on the cartoon above to see the full-size version.

Oh, Irwin! You just know you made the exact same bone-headed mistake last year. Admit it and have mercy on those poor rats. It wasn’t that long ago that you were one of them…

I used to get in trouble all the time for failing to hand in stuff in the correct format. Stick cards were a particular problem for me. I’d spend hours on them, trying to write them just right, only to have my squad leader hand them back to me, all marked up in red ink. I guess you could say he was my first real editor. And a real jerk.

Nah, not really. Stick cards were a pretty pointless exercise, but they didn’t kill me, and I think I still have some floating around. I’ll have to see if I can dig them up to show here on the website. That would be pretty funny to see, wouldn’t it? By the way, did you notice the original date written in the last panel? October 30th, 1990? I’m almost on track with the cartoons at the moment. Kind of neat! But probably only to me…

By the way, it has come to my attention that some folks over at the VTCC are looking for information on the Conrad Cavalary during the late 1980s to early 1990s. If you know anything about the ol’ CC, were a member, or know someone who was a member around then, let me know. I’ll forward your contact info to the people concerned.

And that’s all I got for this week’s episode, folks! Have fun.

My college roommate during my senior year at Virginia Tech was freakishly short. She had red hair, freckles, and sounded like she constantly sucked helium out of party balloons. Watching her in action as a senior cadet was always fun. I hear now she’s a colonel in the Air Force.

But I’ll be you’re still freakishly short, aren’t you, Val?

;P

I vaguely remember having to be Officer of the Day once or twice for my battalion. Vaguely. I think I was up most of the night waiting for something to happen but nothing ever did. I have a clearer recollection of being Staff Duty Officer while attending OBC at Fort Eustis, and that was another all-nighter where once again, nothing ever happened. Thank goodness for quiet nights.

Claw would probably quite happily squash a dozen underclassmen and find it relaxing. He’s that kind of guy. Irwin (and later Ivan) would probably be much more hyper about it, both relishing in the power to punish others and fearing having to do so. I was always more like Irwin and Ivan, never like Claw. The military was never an easy fit for me, and to this day I’m surprised I got through 11 years in the Army Reserves.

I believe the school year is winding down at Virginia Tech. All the cadets must be getting ready for exams by this point. Good luck to all you guys, and to those of you getting ready to graduate and be commissioned into the military. Enjoy your last days of college while you can. It all changes drastically after that.