All About Trey

Reunion Part 1: Fix Bayonettes

Okay, so I went back for my 15th reunion this past weekend. I really didn't want to go, but a friend sort of coerced me and I finally gave in. We bailed from DC a little early and got into Annapolis in time to hit the reunion registration and pick up our badge and other stuff.

Anyways, after the registration, we went onto the Yard (as the Academy grounds are known) to see the Parade. A little bit of nostalgic USNA trivia. What does IHTFP mean? Option A) I Hope There's a Friday Parade? or Option B) I Hate Those Fucking Parades. Any guesses? So this is the first time I've gone back to see a Parade. It was cool to finally be in the stands watching all of it and not having to worry about all of the drill stuff. You never think about it while you are actually suffering through it, but the whole pagentry of it is pretty cool. Pretty cool and useless. Unless you go Marine Corps, this is most likely the last time you'll ever have to drill in formation. Just another piece of tradition for tradition's sake. But it does look cool.

The one piece missing was "fix bayonettes." It's this aweful drill move where you remove the bayonette from it's sheath, then fix it to these ancient, heavy, total useless M-16s. It's all done as a precision move, but if you fuck it up, you're screwed. Oh, and did I mention you are getting graded on all of this. So I was completely bummed that they don't do the "fix bayonette" move anymore. How wimpy.

And what do they do in place of it. They sing. Seriously. They SING. To show their spirit and professionalism they sing. The Navy Fight song. The words to that song were erased from my mind many years ago, but here was the Brigade of Midshipman singing this song. And I swear, in any other circustance that would come off as cheesey. But surprisingly it didn't. I'm still bitter about the whole fix bayonette thing, but I can see where singing is a bit safer.

Okay, more reunion crap later.

posted by Trey @ 1:52 AM