Howdy! I am a senior cadet at Texas A&M, I recently bought a book about the Corps of Cadets in the '50s. It was a really good book and I couldn't put it down. It was super interesting to compare my own experiences to what happened back then. I gave it to my grandpa who was a cadet in the '50s and he loved reading and reminiscing about his time in the corps. To this day one of his favorite things to do is to hear stories about my own corps experience and compare them to what he did back in his day.

During high school, I was finding it hard to find out what being in the Corps was like. I only had my grandpa's account from the '50s to base my expectations on. Needless to say, I didn't know what I was getting into. Some of my buddies were worse off than me and assumed they would have a normal college experience with military training sprinkled in.

After my freshman year, I was asked by my hometown aggie club to talk about my experience in one of their meetings. I was surprised with the positive feedback and how interested the old ags were in what I had to say. I was essentially forced by the club to have a 15 minute Q&A after I gave my presentation. To this day, I still get comments from the club members about when I did my presentation.
I think that writing a book about my experiences in the Corps would be appeal to the old ags who want to reminisce about their own experiences and see how the Corps has grown. I also think it would better help prepare freshmen for what happens when you join the Corps at Texas A&M. Please give me some feedback on whether or not this is a good idea. If there is enough interest, I will write the book before I graduate this May.

As someone who is generally nostalgic myself I think if you were to do this for the enjoyment of yourself and your buddies and maybe your Corps class in general then you would not be disappointed. If you're counting on it being a Texas a&m best seller, you'd have to be one hell of a writer lol. I'd buy it though, would be interested in seeing what it's like these days.

If you are going to do it, now is the time. Only a year after you leave you'll have forgotten a bit, and it gets worse from there. You also have all of your buddies in one place so you can annoy the crap out of them to get their stories

I think it's a great idea if you're motivated to do it. People will buy it and read it.
One of my BQ buddies wrote a book about his time in the Aggie Band.
Becoming A Noble Man Of Kyle: 92 Life Lessons I Learned From The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band

The other thing is that people, even your own classmates will forget things. Y'all will have different experiences. Maybe you went to Bonfire cut and your buddy skipped it to attend some family event back home. I'm sure my classmate's book is interesting but I had a different experience in my outfit. The big issue of my era was females in the Band - which sounds almost laughable now.

For any random Aggie Historians in the future who want to know what it was like way back when in the early 2020s, your book could be very interesting. Especially some of the exciting events that happened off The Quad and how they were viewed during that time. I remember talking to guys who were on campus when USA beat the Soviet Union in Ice Hockey during the 1980 Olympics. What was that like on The Quad. In your case, what was it like when 81M ballots were mailed in for a joke candidate? What was The Quad like after Texas A&M beat #1 Miami Alabama and which fish's bider did QB Zach Calzada run off with?
EDIT: I don't know why in the world I typed Miami instead of Bama.

Even the use of technology would be interesting. Back when everybody had a telephone on their wall in their room, I remember girls randomly calling guys rooms looking for dates. Some of the girls got ahold of outfit phone lists, others figured out that there was a sequence to the phone numbers and once you found somebody on the 4th Floor of Dorm 11, they could ring their way right down the hallway.

I'd leave out the shenanigans that could get somebody arrested or adult types of activities that would reflect poorly on The Corps in general - like the time that one of my buddies got caught with his girlfriend's roommate. His roommate played that answering machine message for anybody walking down The Quad to come in and listen to. I still remember some of that poor girl's rant.

And then of course there's all the growth that you go through. The time you set your personal best on your Army 2 mile run, or the first time you disassembled and reassembled your M-16 in under 2 minutes.

There's a lot to squeeze in to a book. Heck, I could write a book on just our Aggie Band trips alone. Getting served underage in Fort Smith, Arkansas at a Chinese restaurant who assumed we were all soldiers from Fort Chaffee. Or the 6 days we spent in San Diego for the 1990 Holiday Bowl. Or marching an 8 O'Clock at the New Jersey Meadowlands as an 18 year old on the Saturday at the end of FOW.

Anyway, I'm not saying I'll buy a copy of your book per se but, I do believe there is value in it. Good Luck!

P.S. - just remembered the time when Old Army Lou '32 wanted to buy us all a round of beer at a BBQ place next to Chicken Oil on South College and he got into an argument with the management who wouldn't serve us because we were only 18.

Dang, BQ, you didn't have to write his novel FOR him!

As for females, I think they've been the biggest issue for everyone since they arrived...lol. All kidding aside though, there are some bad*** wags out there.

That wasn't even the forward.

I did think of a couple of situations with old Ags where I didn't have any idea what they were talking about. So some sort of reference from their era might have helped. These days, an audio book or podcast might be best.

When I was a fish and my father who spent the Fall of 1955 in A - Infantry, came to visit my dorm room for the first time, his first question was, "Where do you keep your rifles?" He was shocked we didn't have to do rifle drills for correctional PT in our room.

When I was first working in Austin, in the mid-1990s, I worked with a guy who was Class of '86 - Red Eye 1. He wanted to talk to me about what the Corps was like now and he asked me about Quadding. I had no idea what he was talking about. So he explained how the whole game worked. I thought it was weird. He couldn't believe that we didn't do it any more.

Which reminds me of another good one that you should leave out of your book. In Austin, I worked with a gay guy who grew up outside College Station. Apparently the practice back in the early 1980s was "hauling off" and leaving your cadet company commander tied to a tree naked, far away from campus. My gay friend described it as being like Christmas when God would send him a naked Corps Turd.

Life at AGGIELAND in the '40's: The Life of a Cadet at Texas A.& M. College in the 1940's Paperback March 16, 2006 By Harold Byler

Its from 1946-1950

HollywoodBQ said:

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That wasn't even the forward.

I did think of a couple of situations with old Ags where I didn't have any idea what they were talking about. So some sort of reference from their era might have helped. These days, an audio book or podcast might be best.

When I was a fish and my father who spent the Fall of 1955 in A - Infantry, came to visit my dorm room for the first time, his first question was, "Where do you keep your rifles?" He was shocked we didn't have to do rifle drills for correctional PT in our room.

When I was first working in Austin, in the mid-1990s, I worked with a guy who was Class of '86 - Red Eye 1. He wanted to talk to me about what the Corps was like now and he asked me about Quadding. I had no idea what he was talking about. So he explained how the whole game worked. I thought it was weird. He couldn't believe that we didn't do it any more.

Which reminds me of another good one that you should leave out of your book. In Austin, I worked with a gay guy who grew up outside College Station. Apparently the practice back in the early 1980s was "hauling off" and leaving your cadet company commander tied to a tree naked, far away from campus. My gay friend described it as being like Christmas when God would send him a naked Corps Turd.

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My senior year was 35 years ago so let's see what fish Jones knows about:

Family dining and how to wire the table
What is the mess hall vocabulary for main food groups meat, chicken, bread, potatoes and milk
When do BQ fish get their band lyre?
Where is Thursday night yell practice held?
What is fish day?
Where is the shortest cadet on campus?

ABATTBQ87 said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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That wasn't even the forward.

I did think of a couple of situations with old Ags where I didn't have any idea what they were talking about. So some sort of reference from their era might have helped. These days, an audio book or podcast might be best.

When I was a fish and my father who spent the Fall of 1955 in A - Infantry, came to visit my dorm room for the first time, his first question was, "Where do you keep your rifles?" He was shocked we didn't have to do rifle drills for correctional PT in our room.

When I was first working in Austin, in the mid-1990s, I worked with a guy who was Class of '86 - Red Eye 1. He wanted to talk to me about what the Corps was like now and he asked me about Quadding. I had no idea what he was talking about. So he explained how the whole game worked. I thought it was weird. He couldn't believe that we didn't do it any more.

Which reminds me of another good one that you should leave out of your book. In Austin, I worked with a gay guy who grew up outside College Station. Apparently the practice back in the early 1980s was "hauling off" and leaving your cadet company commander tied to a tree naked, far away from campus. My gay friend described it as being like Christmas when God would send him a naked Corps Turd.

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My senior year was 35 years ago so let's see what fish Jones knows about:

Family dining and how to wire the table
What is the mess hall vocabulary for main food groups meat, chicken, bread, potatoes and milk
When do BQ fish get their band lyre?
Where is Thursday night yell practice held?
What is fish day?
Where is the shortest cadet on campus?

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The answers from a CT Zip '86 are:

1. Yes. Lock it up fish Jones. You have 30 seconds, chow down. After that we will have Cherrie Cush races.
2. Bull neck, cackle (that might be eggs), deal, spuds, cow.
3. "Who gives a rats ass when BQ fish get their harp".
4. The Grove
5. Fun!
6. Hell I don't know.

The last fish class that could openly quad....

Band harp > Corps brass

bonus question, what are you eating if the meat is hamsters

Quote:

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He wanted to talk to me about what the Corps was like now and he asked me about Quadding. I had no idea what he was talking about. So he explained how the whole game worked. I thought it was weird. He couldn't believe that we didn't do it any more.

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Many times in my four years I marched to morning chow past some poor senior staked out cold, naked, wet, and screaming, "FISH JONES!!! GET OVER HERE AND CUT ME LOOSE, FISH JONES!!!"

ABATTBQ87 said:

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Band harp > Corps brass

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You mean lyre?

JABQ04 said:

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ABATTBQ87 said:

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Band harp > Corps brass

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You mean lyre?

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I know that, I was responding to rabid cougars fart off

My apologies

JABQ04 said:

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My apologies

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That's OK, just push out a class set

Do it!!

Quote:

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When do BQ fish get their band lyre?
Where is the shortest cadet on campus?

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I think it used to be after the first perfect drill, for the last few decades it's been after the last drill of the last home game.

That was the flag pole outside Admin building, right?

Quad Dog said:

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Quote:

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When do BQ fish get their band lyre?
Where is the shortest cadet on campus?

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I think it used to be after the first perfect drill, for the last few decades it's been after the last drill of the last home game.

That was the flag pole outside Admin building, right?

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Correct on both!!

And the bonus question is.......what's his rank?