I saw a story on 60 Minutes about Skull and Bones, an elite secretive society at Yale. I was wondering what the most secretive organization at A&M was, but more about that later.

Here is a membership roster of Skull and Bones...

http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/3/skullroster.htm

As many of you know George Bush 41 and 43 are both members. John Kerry is also a member which makes the upcoming presidential election a contest between two "bonesmen" as they are known. Hollywood had a movie about this organization called "The Skulls". Of course Hollywood has a way of screwing-up fascinating material by making it overly dramatic, life or death, etc.

Some known facts about Skull and Bones:
- Started in the 1830s
- Elite, secretive society with 15 new members each year
- Mysterious windowless building on Yale campus
- Macabre ritualistic ceremonies
- President William Howard Taft was a member
- Apparently Geronimo's skull and bones were stolen for the organization's use
- At any one time there are about 800 living members

When discussing this another group comes to mind from Pat Conroy - The Ten from The Citadel. Although "The Lords of Discipline" was a work of fiction I have read that The Ten did exist in some form back in the 1960s.

Now back to my original question. Obviously Texas A&M does not have a Skulls and Bones organization, nor The Ten, but I was wondering which organizations were the most secretive at A&M.

I was in The Corps and as a former RV I can say that the Ross Volunteers was somewhat secretive. There were groups within The Ross Volunteers that were even more secretive.

As far as select groups I think the Yell Leaders are very prestigious. If I remember correctly only three are elected each year, one new senior and two new juniors. With Governor Rick Perry as a former yell leader this is a very accomplished and select group. I have friends that were yell leaders and their traditions and initiations are very secretive.

My experience is from the Corps (Yes, I realize there are non-reg yell leaders too). Any input about secretive organizations outside of the Corps would be interesting.

I've heard some stories about the Texas Aggie Cattlewomen that defy any kind of logical explanation.

I was in the Wing.

Were the Stickas a brigade or regimental organization or are you just pulling my leg?

Big Red in Martins BBQ....

maybe its spelled Stikkas.... secret organization in corps. obviously secret enough for you not to know about it. They have their symbol all over the steam tunnels on campus.

???

I dont know much more about em except they wear their ring backwards while current students and they drink big red in martins bbq. and theyre symbol is a green triangle sort lookin thing... i have pictures from the steam tunnels around here somewhere from when we went to the RAB room

I was on Corps Staff and the Ross Volunteers, but if there was a secret organization called the Stikkas (or something like that) it would most likely originate from one of the major groups I had little interaction with.

What did you know about the Stikkas?

What about the Texas Aggie Cattlewomen?

From what i was told it is VERY VERY old. Like 1800's old. Im a northsider i dont know much about this stuff.

But as for secret organizations on campus now. Ide say the northside dorms have become secret organizations. All their stuff that we/they do now has to be done off campus, out of sight of adminstators because of liability issues.

never heard of em

I think it is an interesting topic.

Service academies such as West Point and the Naval Academy, and institutions from that tradition such as Virginia Tech, VMI, Citadel, and Texas A&M usually have some very interesting organizations and clubs that over the years (A&M and most of the other cadet schools started in the 1800s, althought West Point and Annapolis probably started in the late 1700s) develop a prestigious group of alumni.

Add to this the fact that A&M probably has over 800 active student organizations (and many discountinued ones) and this becomes a very interesting topic.

[This message has been edited by Old Main (edited 6/14/2004 1:05a).]

Its the Stickers people...Stickers...

No I was not a member but made fun of those who obviously were...They like to get together and talk about how ol army used to be (from what they have heard or read) and what they can do to get things back to "Ol Army". They supposedly wear their Aggie Rings on their left hand for "Ol Army" sake. Basically, losers who get hard ons for thinking they are somehow special or important in any way, shape, or form.

Also there is the "Sul Ross Society" or "SRS". Some friends of mine and I noticed some wierd activities by another of our friends and decided to investigate. After going through his things we discovered a can of dip with "SRS" written, in some attempt, fancy like in permanent marker. Not much more there...

I probably knew some Stickers and probably didn't even know it. Actually I'm surprised I wasn't asked to join...I was always griping that 'Ol Army was dying.

Everyone gripes about that...these people are fed, in my best guess, that they can actually do something to change it within the Corps. I mean, some people in the Corps are losers, I will grant anyone that, but these people take the cake.



[This message has been edited by Ags-R-Better (edited 6/14/2004 1:12a).]

Ags-R-Better,

If that's the case maybe I should be glad I wasn't asked to join!

quote:

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some people in the Corps are losers

---

just some?

Yes, some. There are "some" border line folks whom I will leave off the list.

Let's not make this a Corps - Nonreg rivalry thread!

OK - some members of Yale Skull and Bones:
1948 George Herbert Walker Bush
1968 George Walker Bush
1922 James S. Bush
1953 Jonathan Bush
1917 Prescott Sheldon Bush
1966 John Forbes Kerry
1878 William Howard Taft

W and Kerry were just two years apart. I wonder if Kerry "harassed" Bush when he was initiated and now W is mad. By the way, on 60 Minutes a Yale classmate of John Kerry said Kerry liked to "style" himself as John F. Kerry so that his name would be like JFK. I thought that was funny and somewhat revealing...

These are just a few of the notable names. The list is quite daunting and I was really just looking for the members I knew would be there...

[This message has been edited by Old Main (edited 6/14/2004 1:36a).]

http://www.parascope.com/articles/0997/skullbones.htm

Above is a link to the history of Skull and Bones - really quite interesting.

I always thought of the Stickers as a "KKK" type organization that was just secretive. If there are any of them on this board...since I'm out of your league now, you can kiss my ass.

Ahhhh nothing like trying to be part of something much bigger than you are....[/yawn]

The "Lesbians Trapped in Men's Bodies Society" is secretive, but has the most members....

Heard that you can see stikka profs by the fact that they wear their wedding ring and aggie ring on the same finger.

My dad told me that there used to be an organization at A&M that was similar to "The Ten" that the Lords of Discipline (except for the racism part as A&M was all white back then anyway) talked about that was called "The True Texans" that was apparently made up of elite members of the Corps. It was disbanded in the early 50's for severe hazing and apparently some cadets were expelled.

Fish Camp
-it's very political.
-the hazing is severe.
-they try to put themselves in positions of power.

Does it make sense that a secret organization was disbanded for hazing? If it was secret, how would anyone know they were hazing. I don't think there was a single accurate statement in this entire post. Silly kids.

The Order of the DV (Duncan Volunteers) was a secret society back in the day!

If I am not mistaken, I believe that "The True Texans" evolved into the "Stickers"...

You are very mistaken.

How would you know?

There are a lot of deep dark secrets about fish camp that will never see the light of day.

You guys can only imagine....

The Stickers have been around forever. One may have been born because of the other (I have no idea), but it was not an evolution. There was a big story about all of this in the Batt when I was still in school. Both orgs were still around at that time.

I believe the True Texans and the Stickers are loosely related, but one is not a direct evolution of the other. It's been a while since I reasearched it, so that may not be true.


I wrote an article about them back in 96. Stickers used to be a much more influential organization, and dates back a LONG time. In recent years (as of 96), the organization has not carried much weight, and basically existed as a result of tradition, without the impact it once had.

Funny how when you start researching the stickers or the true texans you always find people who either think they know someone in the organization or heard about it from someone who knows someone in the organization.

Always one person away from someone who actually knows something solid.

Sounds like a urban myth to me. But that wouldn't be as fun as a story about a secret organization with in the Corps that really runs the Corps and has connections with in the administration so that they never get caught and actually killed a cadet but got away with it because the police chef used to be a stiker and helps hide the evidence.