(aside to foster: been meaning to ask. I understand the Semper Fi part...but the Dartmouth motto? argh. I mean, Dartmouth hired one of its key presidents from Iowa of all places.
"Wade" wrote:
Must have been some sort of mistake, lol
Not a big Dartmouth fan?
Sorry to hear that, what with you paying for me to go there, lol
I was selected to go the Naval Academy (via Bainbridge prep school) out of bootcamp. I was dq'd from that because they found out I wore glasses, just as I was getting ready to go. No waivers. They had not been issued to me (yet) when initially selected...10 buck (retail) black plastic rimmed glasses issued one or two days later and I'd be a friggin' (shudders) engineer, lol.
(Marines were very picky about the qualifications, very few slots thing)
4 years later a very good man that also happened to be my OIC (officer in charge) noted that selection in my SRB (service record book), noted a slot available in what was called "Navy V / Bootstrap mod. program" Bottom line, he put me in for it, I got it, attended Dartmouth not only for free, but got my E-6 pay, commuted rations, housing allowance, travel allowances, per diem...you name it.
Marine Corps part of the Naval Service? You Betcha, buddy! I was the token grunt that the NAVY got to pay for out of THEIR budget (8 sailors also, slacker Navy Lieutenant JG in Groton was my OIC)
I lived almost as good as my classmates, and if you know anything about that place, that's sayin' somethin', financially...Your tax dollars at work, my friend, and it was not cheap. I honed my opinionated prick skills there, but to be honest, I was already pretty good at those prior to my arrival, lol