This is the Future "Officer" Corps?

[SteelCurtain]

It's "officers", pillow fighting is as close as they get to danger.

Easy there. I went to the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs. It's not as easy as people like to imagine.

When I was there, we had what we called "hall brawls", in which we Fourthies (freshmen) "celebrated" any upperclassman's birthday by dragging them out of their room and covering them in honey, syrup, etc., smuggled out of the chow hall. Their classmates tried to stop us, resulting in a huge wrestling match. It was great fun, though they kinda put the kibbosh on the practice after we accidentally threw someone through a plate-glass mirror at the end of one of the hallways, showering everyone with potentially-lethal shards of glass.

We were careful to return the items used in the brawls, because we at the Academies have an "honor oath" which is taken quite seriously: "I will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably (so help me God)." (The parenthetical phrase was not obligatory, and I skipped that part... my first major step, at age 18, toward openly admitting my atheism.)

USNA is my alma mater. There is a ceremony at the end of plebe year (freshman) where we lard up a giant 21 ft phallus, take our shirts off and attempt to mount it to retrieve the prize at the tip. True story. It is known as the "Herndon Climb" or "Vorlon's Wet Dream."



Traditions are weird.