EODag

Lol, and the cadets weren't playing army when they got halfway to Waco afterwards with a freight car full of artillery.

Are you an idiot or are you just pretending?

They are college students. But if they're contract ROTC students then they do things like go on nuclear submarines and fighters jets for their summer tours. That's because the military is paying for their education so that they can be commissioned officers when they graduate. This isn't like some crazy military Cosplay club or something.

The boots are made by a small leather shop near campus. One of the first things freshman cadets do is go as a group and pay a small amount upfront. Class of 2005, I paid $5 as a fish for my senior boots.

I've never heard anyone claim that membership in a military student organization is the same as active duty service.

Every officer in the armed forces did some version of this at one point or another. And if a kid doesn't choose to take a commission when he graduates, then it's still some pretty great management training for whatever he wants to do. I wasn't ever interested in becoming a career military officer, but I have a bachelors degree because someone made me PT until I puked if I didn't study every damn day when I was 18.

I was a nonreg in the Corps (aka a poser) for two years. When we invaded Iraq, I enlisted, did two tours as a USAF explosive ordnance disposal tech. Then I went back and finished my last two years as a civilian.

Many of my friends did the same, some (too many) aren't here. The Corps of Cadets taught me shite about brotherhood, management and getting tougher when life gets tough that you can't learn anywhere. Most of which was directed by the military officers from each unit's service branch.

Also, there's some bizarre traditions to be sure, but they were ours. Most of them go back as far as when A&M was a small all male military college organized primarily by a former Confederate general and Comanche fighter named Sul Ross. We have male Yell Leaders because that's a tradition that goes back to before we even had girls in attendance.

Everyone who goes into combat "plays army" at one point or another beforehand. Im not sure what qualifies you to judge either. You're probably a little pussy who would have been crying for his mommy in your first week in the Corps.