On June 30th, my 18th birthday, I went to Woo Poo and spent my night before Beast in the barracks at West Point, due to the “wisdom” of Coach Knight and the Basketball program. The theory was I would get a head start and be one of the first ones, (if not THE first one, I am not sure), to report in and go through the fitting for a uniform, (shoes were too small for me and I limped around for a week waiting for bigger ones to arrive, until an officer asked me what was wrong; good news, bad news again, as I caught s….. for walking instead of double-timing everywhere, even though I was authorized to do so), haircut, learn to march and salute, etc., etc., first day drill. However, my assessment is it just gave them more time to give you s….., and stress/hazing, (as so few new cadets there yet—I wanted to hide), and I would never recommend this as SOP thereafter, I told the coaches. Looking back, it was the worst, and best experience of my life. It DOES BUILD CHARACTER!! BOTL ’69-
