Sure, It’s Among The More Primitive Large-scale Bonding Events

Posted on | May 13, 2010 | 37 Comments

by Smitty (h/t The Corner)

Herndon is sort of an anti-Prom, a brutal anachronism that is a hot, sweaty end to a crappy year. In the spirit of Twain’s famous quotation

“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”— Mark Twain

the Herndon ceremony gets you ready for the next three years, before you escape “Sing Sing on the Severn.”

Today there is news of potential un-sought change un-backed by hope:

In a Wednesday media briefing, the academy’s outgoing superintendent hinted that the institution may be reconsidering the Climb, an event that sometimes leads to minor injuries. The climb has taken as little as a minute and a half and as long as four hours. The first-year “plebes” never stop till they reach the top, in a greasy human pyramid.
A followup statement clarified that Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler believes the Herndon Climb may eventually be supplanted by the Sea Trials program, a 14-hour regimen of physical and mental endurance tests including “hill assault,” a two-mile regimental run, simulated bridge defense and demolition, pull-ups and something called “pugil stick jousting,” This year’s Sea Trials is set for Tuesday. The Climb takes place May 24.
Fowler did not say that he would end the Climb. He’s leaving the academy this summer.
The academy has had official doubts about the event since at least January 2008. A Washington Post article from that month quoted an institutional statement that leaders were “evaluating the Herndon Monument Climb to ensure the event remains a valid part of our heritage but is conducted with professionalism, respect, and most important, safety in mind.”

This notion is as utterly weak as the uniform change allowing Surface Warfare Officers, known as “black shoes,” to wear aviators’ brown leather oxfords. The regulation came out, and the SWOs looked left and right and said “Be the first twerp to step into a wardroom in brown shoes, legal or not.”

Every class likes to tout theirs as The Last Real Plebe Year, and Herndon is the ceremony that brings closure. Mine ranks as the slowest to complete the evolution, but we were also the first, AFAIK, to get someone boosted to sit atop the thing. I thought the Baltimore Sun had a picture of that on the front page the next day, but light Googling can’t locate it.

Members of the first class to omit this event will make Rodney Dangerfield look like George Washington.

Category: Military

Comments

37 Responses to “Sure, It’s Among The More Primitive Large-scale Bonding Events”

Eric Blair
May 13th, 2010 @ 11:55 am

Officers. Sheesh.
Eric Blair
May 13th, 2010 @ 6:55 am

Officers. Sheesh.
Quotes of the Day « Obi’s Sister
May 13th, 2010 @ 7:17 am

[…] Smitty weighs in on the dismantling of traditions, especially those that bond military brothers. What happens if the Herndon goes the way of […]
rain of lead
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:01 pm

more of the “we had to pass the bill to learn what was in it”

Surprise: Health Care Bill Includes 3.8% Tax On Home Sales, First Federal Sales Tax In History

Tax on Home Sales. Imposes a 3.8 percent tax on home sales and other real estate transactions. Middle-income people must pay the full tax even if they are “rich” for only one day – the day they sell their house and buy a new one.

“gee, how’s that no tax increase pledge workin out for ya.”

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/surprise-health-care-bill-includes-3-8-tax-on-home-sales-first-federal-sales-tax-in-history/
rain of lead
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:01 am

more of the “we had to pass the bill to learn what was in it”

Surprise: Health Care Bill Includes 3.8% Tax On Home Sales, First Federal Sales Tax In History

Tax on Home Sales. Imposes a 3.8 percent tax on home sales and other real estate transactions. Middle-income people must pay the full tax even if they are “rich” for only one day – the day they sell their house and buy a new one.

“gee, how’s that no tax increase pledge workin out for ya.”

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/surprise-health-care-bill-includes-3-8-tax-on-home-sales-first-federal-sales-tax-in-history/
ThomasD
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:10 pm

“Superintendant Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler indicated dissatisfaction that year with the risk of injury associated with the climbing tradition and a desire to discontinue it.”

‘A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.’

– Grace Murray Hopper
ThomasD
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:10 am

“Superintendant Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler indicated dissatisfaction that year with the risk of injury associated with the climbing tradition and a desire to discontinue it.”

‘A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.’

– Grace Murray Hopper
richard mcenroe
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

What happens under the greasy human pyramid, stays under the humnan pyramid. DADT.
richard mcenroe
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:35 pm

What happens under the greasy human pyramid, stays under the humnan pyramid. DADT.
richard mcenroe
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:35 am

What happens under the greasy human pyramid, stays under the humnan pyramid. DADT.
Fred Beloit
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:41 pm

It’s the porky lard, Dhimmis. How can the Navy recruit all these would-be infantry officers [see pugil stick(bayonet), hill assault, etc. training], if they can’t get a few Muzzies into the Acad.?
Fred Beloit
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:41 pm

It’s the porky lard, Dhimmis. How can the Navy recruit all these would-be infantry officers [see pugil stick(bayonet), hill assault, etc. training], if they can’t get a few Muzzies into the Acad.?
Fred Beloit
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:41 am

It’s the porky lard, Dhimmis. How can the Navy recruit all these would-be infantry officers [see pugil stick(bayonet), hill assault, etc. training], if they can’t get a few Muzzies into the Acad.?
Paco
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

Very interesting tradition, of which I was previously ignorant. It would be a pity, indeed, to abandon it.

I wonder if there’s a wardroom anywhere that has yet seen a pair of brown shoes.
Paco
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

Very interesting tradition, of which I was previously ignorant. It would be a pity, indeed, to abandon it.

I wonder if there’s a wardroom anywhere that has yet seen a pair of brown shoes.
Paco
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:44 am

Very interesting tradition, of which I was previously ignorant. It would be a pity, indeed, to abandon it.

I wonder if there’s a wardroom anywhere that has yet seen a pair of brown shoes.
The Dead Hand
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm

@Blair: ROTFLOL.
The Dead Hand
May 13th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm

@Blair: ROTFLOL.
The Dead Hand
May 13th, 2010 @ 8:58 am

@Blair: ROTFLOL.
Jeff
May 13th, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

smitty …

what class are you sir … I’m 1980, first with women and I think we had the record for a while … (they cut up and glued the dixie cup to the top) …
Jeff
May 13th, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

smitty …

what class are you sir … I’m 1980, first with women and I think we had the record for a while … (they cut up and glued the dixie cup to the top) …
Jeff
May 13th, 2010 @ 9:25 am

smitty …

what class are you sir … I’m 1980, first with women and I think we had the record for a while … (they cut up and glued the dixie cup to the top) …
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:32 pm

There are worse things than eating a live frog for breakfast.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:32 pm

There are worse things than eating a live frog for breakfast.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 10:32 am

There are worse things than eating a live frog for breakfast.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:42 pm

If you read Band of Brothers and With The Old Breed, a subtheme in both books is rigorous physical and mental training of combat soliders and marines is absolutely necessary for saving lives in combat. They got rid of live fire exercises (crawling under barbwire with live rounds going off over your head) which, while occasionally resulting in a recruit getting shot for not following instructions, were absolutely critical in preparing troops for combat conditions.

Now the climbing of some phallic looking monument smeared with lard is rather public schoolish (in a Britsh Christopher Hitchens kind of way) and with a bunch of guys doing it can seem rather…well let’s not ask or tell. But it is a tradition, a rather harmless one, and frankly high school cheerleaders face far worse risks doing what they do with this momument. These guys (and gals) are training to be officers who are supposed to serve and lead troops in combat.

Buck up.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:42 pm

If you read Band of Brothers and With The Old Breed, a subtheme in both books is rigorous physical and mental training of combat soliders and marines is absolutely necessary for saving lives in combat. They got rid of live fire exercises (crawling under barbwire with live rounds going off over your head) which, while occasionally resulting in a recruit getting shot for not following instructions, were absolutely critical in preparing troops for combat conditions.

Now the climbing of some phallic looking monument smeared with lard is rather public schoolish (in a Britsh Christopher Hitchens kind of way) and with a bunch of guys doing it can seem rather…well let’s not ask or tell. But it is a tradition, a rather harmless one, and frankly high school cheerleaders face far worse risks doing what they do with this momument. These guys (and gals) are training to be officers who are supposed to serve and lead troops in combat.

Buck up.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 10:42 am

If you read Band of Brothers and With The Old Breed, a subtheme in both books is rigorous physical and mental training of combat soliders and marines is absolutely necessary for saving lives in combat. They got rid of live fire exercises (crawling under barbwire with live rounds going off over your head) which, while occasionally resulting in a recruit getting shot for not following instructions, were absolutely critical in preparing troops for combat conditions.

Now the climbing of some phallic looking monument smeared with lard is rather public schoolish (in a Britsh Christopher Hitchens kind of way) and with a bunch of guys doing it can seem rather…well let’s not ask or tell. But it is a tradition, a rather harmless one, and frankly high school cheerleaders face far worse risks doing what they do with this momument. These guys (and gals) are training to be officers who are supposed to serve and lead troops in combat.

Buck up.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

Excuse me, high school cheerleaders face more risks doing what they do than these plebes face climing a hunk of granite.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

Excuse me, high school cheerleaders face more risks doing what they do than these plebes face climing a hunk of granite.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 10:43 am

Excuse me, high school cheerleaders face more risks doing what they do than these plebes face climing a hunk of granite.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 4:21 pm

I want to see more old breed marines driving these plebes (to help turn them into hardened combat officers ready to take on any challenge). Otherwise they might as well join the air force or the coasties.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 4:21 pm

I want to see more old breed marines driving these plebes (to help turn them into hardened combat officers ready to take on any challenge). Otherwise they might as well join the air force or the coasties.
Joe
May 13th, 2010 @ 11:21 am

I want to see more old breed marines driving these plebes (to help turn them into hardened combat officers ready to take on any challenge). Otherwise they might as well join the air force or the coasties.
Romeo13
May 13th, 2010 @ 5:28 pm

You think this is bad… I’m an Old style Shellback… and I’m ashamed of what they have done to that Age Old Tradition.
Romeo13
May 13th, 2010 @ 5:28 pm

You think this is bad… I’m an Old style Shellback… and I’m ashamed of what they have done to that Age Old Tradition.
Romeo13
May 13th, 2010 @ 12:28 pm

You think this is bad… I’m an Old style Shellback… and I’m ashamed of what they have done to that Age Old Tradition.