Did anyone receive any form of acknowledgement (or a Thank You) for helping financially send a cadet, or cadets, to the A&M / Ark game ?

No. But I didn't sponsor anyone so that's probably why

Bop sponsored two.
Perhaps if you sponsored four or more you'll receive some form of appreciation ?

If you get one, I imagine it'll be from the Commandant. I don't think any of the cadets were told who sponsored who.

But, chances are that even if they were told to write a thank you note it'll take till the end of the year to send it. I wrote my TY note for my scholarship within the first month of each semester, but when I was a pisshead I got randomly tasked by a staffer to e-mail everyone who hadn't mailed their scholarship letters yet, and this was a month before the year was over. In my major unit alone it was about 100 cadets, and I got back about a dozen angry telling me that they'll do it when they get the time.

They cancelled the annual cadet/donor luncheon at Duncan because cadets that had scholarships wouldn't show up. They'd be bagging in. I heard that one year a cadet was bagging in, and his donor (who was only like 10 years removed from the Corps), went and aired him out.

I say revoke scholarships if folks don't write the thank you notes. No need to have the bulls chasing down cadets and reminding them they need to write letters.

truck...
Food for thought next time some come holding a hand out, with palm up.

Bop, I am not sure how the CMDT's office tracked the donations. I will look into it tomorrow. I work for the Office of the Commandant and I want you to know that we greatly appreciate your generosity. I'll update tomorrow. Hooah!

The 6-P's...Pre Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

It's quite understandable, that someone surely took this little post-event aspect of the appeal-for-donations into consideration and simply decided it was too-much-of-an-effort to try and thank each contributor individually.

Therefore, a S.O.P. impersonal mass audience Thank You in some general announcement must suffice.

Now if someone made say, 10-20 ($350-$700)individual donations, at $35 ea, well, there certainly needs to be forthcoming a personal communication, e-mail, letter or phone call (and, perhaps there's already been such a gester of sorts made).

Don't think something like that pays extra dividends ? Just ask any professional fund raiser in the market place.

Bop thinks somebody badly missed the LZ.

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 10/2/2011 9:12p).]

Bop, I completely agree with you.

However, I would encourage you to be slow to react to things like this and possibly seek avenues to proactively rectify the problem rather than passively. As some Ags I know have done, stopping support of the Corps will likely not accomplish anything in the long run and only hurt the motivated cadets along with the less motivated ones. I'm sure you know what I mean. If scholarships dry up, it might be the kid whose parents pay for all his stuff and who was never taught to write thank you notes who doesn't get one. Or it could be the kid that has to work as a DV and who knows to write TY notes that doesn't get it.

This is a cultural problem, and one that I know Commandant's staff tries to minimize as much as possible. I think RWs are even handed out if cadets don't write their letters in time, but for some that isn't enough motivation.

truck...
Thank you for the thoughtful response.

In this computer age it's fairly simple to set up an automated response system which can be activated at the touch of a key.

No need to take pen to paper or lick a stamp.

Just hate to see...

Sleeping on Guard Duty.

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I heard that one year a cadet was bagging in, and his donor (who was only like 10 years removed from the Corps), went and aired him out.

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That's awesome.

How about this...

http://www.youtube.com/aggiecorps#p/u/0/KIgyxSCvyGY


more at http://www.youtube.com/aggiecorps

I believe the act of giving is reward enough.







We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

If the information would have been provided on who sponsored my ticket, I would have sent them a letter. Also what is this cadet-donor lunch yall seem to be talking about. I have had the same scholarship the entire time I have been in the corp and would love the opportunity to thank my donor in person for how much help they have given me.

One Saturday morning the cadets on scholarship would get into B's and meet their scholarship donors, and eventually have lunch with them. I think FDT would perform for them as well.

But eventually there were so many cadets that would miss bag in, or skip it for some reason or another, that the Commandant decided to avoid the opportunity to look bad in front of the donors, and just not have it.

Well my parents raised me to be appreciative to anyone that helps you when they do not have to. So any cadet that would bag in on a day like that is lazy and rude. Just my 2 cents.

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the Commandant decided to avoid the opportunity to look bad in front of the donors, and just not have it

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piss poor leadership by that commandant

annie88 - thanks for posting that link to the YouTube from the Corps Trip/Game.

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piss poor leadership by that commandant

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You've been out of the Corps for a while. Trust me, making cadets be anywhere on time, or being responsible for what is expected of them is a battle that is very hard to win. It's not true for the entire Corps, but there's a pretty good chunk. So I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, that he tried to force responsibility on them, but was unable to achieve the results he felt he needed.

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I believe the act of giving is reward enough.

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+1

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being responsible for what is expected of them is a battle that is very hard to win

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Terminate them. I'd fire them in the workplace if they acted like that, so the commandant should let them go so that their behavior doesn't rub off on others in the Corps

From my perspective, I agree with you. Same goes with a lot of the fatties. If they don't shape up, kick them out. But, what about contracted cadets? A lot harder to kick them out. I'm still going to give the Commandant the benefit of the doubt on this. GVA was a very smart man, and he understood politics within the university and he knew what he had to do to get big Corps donors to keep giving. He looked at the whole picture. And he was definitely not a micromanager, like I understand the current commandant is. I personally like that the Gen Ramirez is taking the bull by the horns to get stuff done when cadets just weren't able to, or didn't care enough to, in the past. But GVA was far more hands off, although he let is assistant commandants get a little more hands on.

I got an email reply because I designated that my donations go to ensure that it go to help married cadets attend the game.

I recieved a thank you from the commandant.

(and not because he is class of 79 and we were good friends at ATM)

It was a form email.

No thank you but I don't expect one either! Didn't donate it to make me look good!

It's not about looking good, it's about teaching the young people of today common courtesy. Whether it is a wedding gift, a donation for a charity event, or a sponsorhips for a little league baseball team, a thank you card/letter/plaque or some form of appreciation is a must - especially in the business world.

In this case, since the money was handled through the 12th man foundation, I don't think it's fair to blame the Corps for not returning individual thank you's.

Edit: And especially in this economy.

[This message has been edited by bigtruckguy3500 (edited 10/8/2011 10:19p).]

At least a solicitation disclaimer of some sort would have been appropriate like:

..."Don't expect acknowledgement, just notice another item on your monthly credit card statement."

Got a thank you letter from Gen Ramirez today.

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It's not about looking good, it's about teaching the young people of today common courtesy

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This.
Sadly lacking in today's youth.

Bop received letter.

I think it's good to see a little negative PR lit a fire somewhere in the Trigon.

I can say that it appears to me that the Commandant doesn't seem to appreciate alumni all that much. I've heard it countless times that he is reaching out to alumni like never before, but if he's going to reach out for a handout, the alumni who give should be appreciated.

As I reviewed my will this month, I chose to take the Corps out of it because of my own recent experiences with a complete lack of appreciation on his part and also in part because of what I saw on this thread.

I am exceptionally disappointed with how little regard there seems to be for alumni like me who can't write five- and six-figure checks.

He's been in less than a year and you've already written him off?

Funny, given your admiration of GVA, who is little appreciated by many.

Biggest fish class in 24 years and you want to write him off??? Old Ags complain that cadets dont go to Corps Trip games so he lobbies athletic office for 2000 discounted tickets and raises the money thru former students. He writes a email to everyone thanking them and then follows up with personal letters and you want to write him off. Some of you guys just kill me??

There is a lot to my personal take on this that I am not going to post. Suffice to say, though, I was personally very offended by some things.

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There is a lot to my personal take on this that I am not going to post

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Understandable.

Is there still such a thing as... THE BULL RING ?