Comfort animals

6,334 Views | 49 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Agdorm12
Sdj774
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I heard something the other day that I have a hard time believing. Is there currently a freshman cadet with a comfort animal? Please tell me this isn't true.
Aggies Revenge
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Scuttlebutt, raising the hackles on Ol' Army since 1876!
93Spur
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I believe that's old news. Wasn't that someone in C Company Infantry, Fall of 1948? The dog's name was Tip, right?
CanyonAg77
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93Spur said:

I believe that's old news. Wasn't that someone in C Company Infantry, Fall of 1948? The dog's name was Tip, right?
Tip was a parakeet
Rabid Cougar
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They should all get woobies. Best comfort animal ever!
aghistory
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Tip was indeed a dog. He's in a picture with C Company Infantry in the Reveille case in the Corps Center.
Aggie118
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It's true. There's a fish who has a parrot.
Aggies Revenge
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93Spur said:

I believe that's old news. Wasn't that someone in C Company Infantry, Fall of 1948? The dog's name was Tip, right?
C-2 had a comfort rooster living in a spare room in 92. I had a box of shake and bake on standby if I ever caught the damn in the passageway.
93Spur
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Aggie118 said:

It's true. There's a fish who has a parrot.
Assuming such report to be wholly accurate, solely for the purpose of this discussion, I can imagine nothing worse than a comfort animal capable of learning phrases said in a fish hole and capable of repeating said phrases for another 60 years...

"Drop and give me 40"
"What is your major malfunction fish ______?"
" (so many other phrases which under no circumstances would I share here) "

I doubt that bird would be permitted to remain in the family after the fish gets a spouse. Too many inappropriate phrases.
HollywoodBQ
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Fall of 1988, there were some Zips on the south end of the 3rd floor of Dorm 11 who took one of the green Gumby mattresses and blocked the door to the old style 6 man showers and created a swimming pool. That was pretty funny.

One day, I went in there and they had a real live duck swimming in the pool. It's one of those things that I couldn't quite believe I saw.
CharlieBrown17
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hillcountryag86 said:

Aggie118 said:

It's true. There's a fish who has a parrot.


Is this fake news?


No, it isn't.
Sdj774
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It's official... I can no longer call A&M a Senior Military College
TXAggieMom11
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You have to tell the outfit the fish is in or at least which dorm! My Butt hadn't heard about it and he wants to see it. He thinks it is hilarious and hopes the fish gets to keep it all 4 years!
Demosthenes81
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Fair Housing Act requires schools with dorms to allow comfort. aka Emotional Support, animals. The rest of the campus buildings do not so you can't take your rabbit to class with you. True service animals (documented) must be allowed everywhere.

And just so you know, only dogs and miniature horses can be service animals at the moment.
Aggies Revenge
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jxs40 said:


And just so you know, only dogs and miniature horses can be service animals at the moment.
Ahhh to be known as "fISH My Little Pony"!
Aggie118
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I believe it is in dorm 8!
Trinity Ag
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Aggie Infantry said:

The Corps has been going down hill for a while. Last year, there was a Haji female with a head scarf under her cap. This is not allowed in the Army - why is it allowed for cadets?

You are wrong.

Religious accommodations are not common, but are allowed.



Army Directive on Religious Accommodation

Nice language, by the way.
CanyonAg77
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Quote:

You are wrong.

Religious accommodations are not common, but are allowed.
The directive says that exceptions can be applied for. It does not say all will be granted. Your photo showed a Sikh, who any army in the world would be thrilled to have.

Muslims, not so much.

Given our current situation, it feels a little like allowing an American soldier in WWII who had Japanese heritage to wear a rising sun headband.
traxter
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CanyonAg77 said:

Quote:

You are wrong.

Religious accommodations are not common, but are allowed.
The directive says that exceptions can be applied for. It does not say all will be granted. Your photo showed a Sikh, who any army in the world would be thrilled to have.

Muslims, not so much.

Given our current situation, it feels a little like allowing an American soldier in WWII who had Japanese heritage to wear a rising sun headband.
Yeah, I'm not really seeing that comparison. It's not like she's wearing an ISIS flag on her head. I mean would anyone care if this hypothetical Japanese soldier were wearing a symbol of Shintoism or Buddhism when the soldier beside him was wearing a yarmulke, and the one next to him a cross around his neck?

The Corps is full of fat bodies busting out of uniform, there have been blind cadets, cadets that couldn't run or do certain PT because of one disability or another. None of which would be allowed in the Army. If we want to set a standard of who's allowed into the Corps based on who's allowed into the Army, then that standard needs to be applied across the board.
Presley OBannons Sword
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anyone that has a comfort animal is a complete *****. I feel confident in generalizing that across the board. when I was AD there was a Marine captain at the same duty station I was at, and he had a comfort dog. he was universally mocked and utterly disrespected, deservedly so.
Trinity Ag
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CanyonAg77 said:

Quote:

You are wrong.

Religious accommodations are not common, but are allowed.
The directive says that exceptions can be applied for. It does not say all will be granted. Your photo showed a Sikh, who any army in the world would be thrilled to have.

Muslims, not so much.

Given our current situation, it feels a little like allowing an American soldier in WWII who had Japanese heritage to wear a rising sun headband.

They are being granted, and the policy allows hijabs as well:

Quote:

Observant Sikhs and conservative Muslim women are now able to wear religious head coverings, thanks to a directive issued Tuesday that updates the Army's grooming and appearance regulation.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/01/05/new-army-policy-oks-soldiers-to-wear-hijabs-turbans-and-religious-beards/

I won't comment on comfort animal policy, but as a Student Organization, the Corps has legal responsibilities on how it accommodates people with recognized disabilities/conditions -- and likely doesn't have full freedom action for such things.
hillcountryag86
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And that includes a "comfort" parrot???
chrismaroon
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I can see that parrot being hazed every day and taught to say hilarious phrases just like we used to have fish on details back when it wasn't hazing. Just wait, there will be a university investigation into parrot hazing before the year is out and someone will be kicked out of the corps.
Agdorm12
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GRam, you're noticeably silent on this thread.
CanyonAg77
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Quote:

You I won't comment on comfort animal policy, but as a Student Organization, the Corps has legal responsibilities on how it accommodates people with recognized disabilities/conditions -- and likely doesn't have full freedom action for such things.
I'm afraid this is the problem. The Corps was much more Darwinian back in my day, and I suspect it was even more so in previous generations. Get along, fit in, or get out. And if you don't get out, your classmates will pack your stuff and leave it in the hall. I've seen it done.

Today, the misfit would be allowed to stay, given a cash settlement, and the bag-packers expelled.

As you said, it's a societal problem and legal problem. The entire world is less Darwinian than it was in my day.
hillcountryag86
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Comfort Parrot. Makes an interesting green tab on a fish...
Sdj774
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Somehow I don't think this would fly at West Point, the Naval Acadamy, or the AF Acadamy.
74OA
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I suppose what astonishes me the most is why anyone who can't function without a so-called comfort animal would want the high-stress life of a cadet in the first place. If they needed such extra emotional support in their soft life back at home, I'd imagine the demands of Corps life would be unbearable even with an animal? (Or has the change of priority from leadership to academics made the whole Corps experience something I don't understand?)

As an aside, what I can imagine is the usual crop of barracks lawyers trying it on for a laugh: "Watch this guys, I'm gonna get a three-legged goat authorized as a comfort animal just to watch the pissheads lose their minds."
chrismaroon
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Quote:

(Or has the change of priority from leadership to academics made the whole Corps experience something I don't understand?)


This.....
(Not that emphasizing academics is bad)

Still, This
Quad Dog
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Presley OBannons Sword said:

anyone that has a comfort animal is a complete *****. I feel confident in generalizing that across the board. when I was AD there was a Marine captain at the same duty station I was at, and he had a comfort dog. he was universally mocked and utterly disrespected, deservedly so.
So you'd be against a veteran with a PTSD service animal or similar being in The Corps?
Presley OBannons Sword
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obviously.


edit - I don't know what you mean by the "or similar" you threw in there.
CharlieBrown17
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Sdj774 said:

Somehow I don't think this would fly at West Point, the Naval Acadamy, or the AF Acadamy.


They also get different rules to play by.
Presley OBannons Sword
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and let me clarify:

if someone ends up with a comfort animal due to PTSD or whatever, and the dog is just like their at-home pet, then fine. I think it's stupid, but whatever. however if you are supposedly so ****ed up that you cant function during normal daylight working hours without a puppy dog to make you feel better, then your time in uniform needs to be over.
Presley OBannons Sword
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further clarification:

the vast, VAST majority of PTSD claims are utter horse*****
74OA
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chrismaroon said:

Quote:

(Or has the change of priority from leadership to academics made the whole Corps experience something I don't understand?)


This.....
(Not that emphasizing academics is bad)

Still, This
From the official Corps of Cadets website: "Academic excellence is the top priority of the Corps of Cadets."

I was fairly astonished when I first read that and when I read the Commandant's similar comments from time to time here. I would be just as surprised if I read that the football team's top priority is academic excellence. Don't get me wrong, academics are of course extremely important to both student-athletes and student-cadets, but I'd never heard it described as the Corps top priority before. I thought it had a different purpose.

After all, the top priority of almost every other organ of the University is academic excellence, so why bother to join the Corps? What is it that the Corps offers that is above and beyond academics and which makes its challenging life worthwhile and so different from the rest of the student body?

The obvious answer is what was once the Corps' stated raison d'etre: Creating leaders. Yes, I agree the Corps is still doing that, but I wonder how much better might it be succeeding if its brass didn't view academic excellence as their top priority?
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