Military in College

Outside my window, hundreds of students are cheering their goodbyes to friends and expectant heroes. The military training on campus has come to an end, climaxing (I thought) with the exhibition of skills this morning. However, with shouts and screams rolling up from the wave of students in the street below, this farewell feels much more climactic than the formal show.



Earlier, the scene a more organized form of celebration, not nearly as participatory or energetic.

The exhibition suited its purpose.
Girls got to show off how they would kick enemy butte in hand-to-hand combat...

And the boys got to demonstrate the lost art of stabbing with bayonets:

Others reminded us why we should fear batons...

And, of course, there were the decorative guns on the sidelines:

It was a hot day for this, yet I think the new farmer's tan I got from standing in the sun for that hour was worth it. But, now that the freshmen will no longer train on campus, who will wake me up each day at 6am with rhythmic chants? (Nate -- that was a rhetorical question. Please do not call me every morning at 6am on Skype and claim that its annoying ring is "rhythmic chanting.")