fish Orientation Week

Two years before we donned the white belts and earned the right to be called Surge Butts, the young men in this room, hole as we had to call it, came together for fish orientation week…one of the most fascinating weeks of our lives.  We really were not sure what was in store for us.  But with the help of two juniors, our cadre, Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Gallagher, we joined 1,200 other incoming freshmen to learn about the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. We learned the basics of what we would need to know to survive our first year.  Although we may look like a unified bunch by having fun together and drinking a few beers, I was 17 in this photo wearing the blue shirt and hiding behind the Miller High Life and Michelob bottles, we really didn’t know each other and true unity would not come until the fall.  Before then, we would be physically broken, we would sleep through countless classes, we would cry, we would leave the Corps of Cadets, one of us would write checks from another ones check book, and some of us would fail out of the University altogether.  

One of the first things we had to learn were our fish answers, there were only four.  “Yes Sir”, “No Sir”, “No excuse Sir”, and “Sir, not being informed to the highest degree of accuracy, I hesitate to articulate for fear that I may deviate from the true course of rectitude Sir.  In short Sir, I am a very dumb fish, Sir, and do not know Sir”.  This had to be recited in less than five seconds to avoid even more hazing at the hands of our upper classmen.

We also learned that an Aggie doesn’t lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do.  Correctly and fortunately the classmate who didn’t know about the stealing clause was discovered writing those checks from fish Colwell's checkbook and was sent home.  It took the rest of us some time to learn our place.  First we had much more to learn.

We learned how to march.  We learned how to eat like fish.  We learned how to hit a brace, the wall, and our faces.  We also learned how to whip out to upper classmen.  Whipping out is about hand-shakes and greetings and not about whipping out other parts of our anatomy…that part didn’t get much use the first semester…unless, of  course you were fish Edminster.

So Howdy fish buds.  I’m fish Muccio from Sterling Park Virginia taking Mechanical Engineering.  Whip out and tell us what you remember about FOW.