EARS ……open EARS ……OPEN EARS …………OPEN!!

We were supposed to go to Norwich University on Friday the 19^th of September but Hurricane Isabel hit the shores of North Caroli9na and the effects of the hurricane were going to be severe so the University postponed the event to start on Saturday morning. To make the time we were supposed to be there I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to be at the church by 5:20 a.m. We departed unusually on time at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. We were on the road for about three and a half hours including a bathroom break. We finally reached Norwich University, “America’s First Private Military University” at about 9:15. We were escorted and commanded around the entire time by three “rooks” AKA new freshmen that haven’t been noticed and turned into cadets.

During the whole time everyone operated at an intensity level of three (on a scale form one to ten) or less compared to the 9.9 that they got in school. After unpacking, setting up, and eating lunch, we had the opening ceremonies. It was our first introduction to the military with a band, choir, and a gun show, which was twirling and doing fancy moves with guns. We then had our activities, which were competitions with all troops at the event. In our first activity we got first place. It was a log cutting activity. We cut a five-inch log in 7 seconds. We then had a water jug carry, Tug-of-War, build a bridge, backpack / ruck sack relay, high-crawl-bar-crawl-duck walk-relay, dizzy relay and, drag-high crawl relay.

We also got first in the pyramid push-ups – this involves a group of four each with his legs on another person’s shoulders so that only everyone’s hands are touching the ground. At the start of this event, we weren’t doing so well until we were told that the Girl Scouts did 10. Then we did 20!

The above two pictures are of the pyramid pushup. The left picture shows the start position. The one on the right shows us in the air, on our hands.

We got second place in a relay called Mission Impossible that involves each member of the 4-man team carrying 4 water jugs, 5 ammo boxes full of rocks, and two wooden planks, to designated locations and back again, one item at a time.

The whole time we were marched around military style under close observation and were taught by the Rooks. We were not nearly as good as the Rooks (see below), but we got better after time.

One reason we got better at marching was because we learned that there were Girl Scouts there so we had to look good for them!

To motivate us to compete harder, the Rooks did pushups and other PT (physical training) drills during the entire time especially when someone succeeded in a drill. They also showed us some hand-to-hand combat that they learned. In between our activities we did very easy PT drills.

After dinner we saw a magic show that doubled as a motivational speech about perseverance, peer pressure, and all the other good things that kids should know about and practice regularly. Then we left and went to the field in front of the magic show and saw some great fire works. The fireworks were professionally quality. We then had a great night’s sleep.

In the morning we had the usual oatmeal and packed up the cars and went home.

What people thought about the trip?

(These comments were made by real people riding home in Mr. B’s car)

“The fireworks were scrumptchulesent!” said Jake M. In case you don’t know what that means, it is a made up term meaning, “super duper”.

The uh Rucksack race was HARDCORE!!!” said Will R.

“It was wonderful to see every scout competing and fully involved.” Said Asst. Scoutmaster Michael B.

“The pyramid pushups were awesome. My group and I did 20, which landed us in 1^st place. YEAH!!!” said Justin B-K.