FALL PHYSICAL FITNESS CHALLENGE CYCLE

We are planning the fall Physical Fitness Challenge for Wednesday and Thursday, 19 and 20 October 2016.  The test will be administered at 2:30 p.m. (1430 for you military folks) on the track and (obviously) you need only attend one day.  The test is described n the CFM and CRM, but to summarize:

• Timed crunches.  As many as you can do in one minute.
• Cadenced push-ups.  As many as you can properly do following a 3-second cadence.
• One mile run.

Your score will be based on your age and sex.  To qualify for the basic ribbon you must score better than the bottom 50% of your age and sex class (that is, you must be better than the average bear),

To participate you must have

1.  A health risk screening form on file with us.
2. A standard release form on file with us.
3. A pre-sports physical on file with the nurse's office.

All of the above forms must be dated within the last year.  On the day of the test, we will verify that you are in good health, hydrated, and ready and willing to participate.  Participation is completely voluntary.

CADET CHALLENGE #1

William Faulkner famously said that a novelist is a failed short story writer, and a short story writer is a failed poet. Hemingway, with his creation of the six-word story, combined poetry and drama into a short form that has grown in popularity while remaining difficult to achieve. Your challenge:  write the best six-word story you can.  Here are a few of the best:  

For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn. —Ernest Hemingway

Longed for him. Got him. Shit. —Margaret Atwood

All those pages in the fire. —Janet Burroway

              The smallest coffins are the heaviest. --Annonymous

               Siri, delete Mom from my contacts.  --Anonymous 

This challenge will close at 0730, Friday, 7 October 2016.  There will be a prize.  Few will enter, one will win.  My selection will be based on originality and style.

A cadet (who needs a shave) with writer's block.

SHOE SHINING 101

Here's a short video prepared by our former battalion executive officer, Jonathan Roopchand:

Roopchand on how to shine your shoes

Jonathan is now a cadet at Norwich University, but while he was a Middletown cadet his shoes were nearly always immaculate.  Now that he's at Norwich, who knows what bad habits the's fallen into.  First uniform day for returning cadets is a week from Tuesday.

NEW CLASSROOM

We have been assigned to room 102.  It's in the half-wing above the boys' locker room overlooking the courtyard.  It's air-conditioned and (almost) sparkly-new.  Although we will miss the old room, starting Tuesday we will begin to make the new one ours.  Have a great Labor Day weekend...get the last bit of summer out of your system and be ready to hit the deck running on Tuesday.